Dusk
by Chustang
Summary: A dark pokemon fanfic. When a new prophecy arises from the ashes of the Shadow World, the powers of destruction, Vision, Strength, Speed, and Stealth, awaken the chosen children. Rebellion is futile against this murderous prophecy that shall destroy all t
1. Prophecy

Dusk   
by Chustang   
* * * * *

Strength, Speed, Stealth, and Vision. The four potent elements of destruction. Languid and innocent as their harnessers and maintainers were isolated, although their extreme power was often displayed in an ominous, almost forbidding test of skill. Usually Pokemon battles were the dominant cause of the Shadow World's resurrection of power as, by coincidence, two or more of the prophesied children were united to fight.   
An perhaps that was why a select few of kids who were linked a semi-tight circle of friendships, current or past, felt a certain power gleaming within themselves whenever they were reunited. And maybe that was why they were the four true masters of Pokemon.   
And maybe, just maybe, it was why the strongest of all the potently destined human beings witnessed the unfurling of an ancient, malevolent prophecy that was soon to be his.

* * * * *

Saffron fur bristling and gleaming with a healthy and resilient shine, a sleek, energetic Pikachu stood second base, ecstatic sable eyes locked intently on home. Perched on first, Pidgeot flung its sleek head back in a flare of ebullient energy, its incredibly long magenta and yellow cape feathers gliding in the air like a whip then settled back on its bristling, majestic beige feathers, and clawed furrows in the dirt. Vulpix snickered lightly as the playful string of taunting echoed slightly within its chestnut hued, cupped ears, standing on third, and energetically drew twisting designs in the air with its reddish-brown, identical tails that curled cutely into themselves at their silky, furred tips, forming coils.   
Taking up the position of catcher, Bulbasaur balanced on its ivy green, stocky legs and slid its foliage green vines into the sultry fury of summer, brandishing them and preparing them for the hard jolt of a baseball to be flung into their grasp. Its ruby eyes were gleaming in elation and it barked a friendly "Buuullbaa! Bulba!" at its master who answered the rough, frog like bark with a strong scratch behind its stumpy, triangular ears. The emerald, slightly dew-flecked grass lapped at its green body in the icy, soothing breeze languidly whipping through it, and the wind brushed against the Pokemon's forest green bulb planted firmly on its back, teasing it open to absorb the golden particles of sunlight.   
Ash swung the bat in a practice swing, waiting for Geodude to pitch, his red and white hat spun around on his head of unruly, wild sable hair. Misty and Brock sat on the grass and waited patiently for their turn at bat. The sunlight glinted off the silver metal of the bat as it was swiped through the thick, sultry heat of summer enveloping the whole of Indigo Island.   
Its rocky gray skin gleaming dully, Geodude flung the ball in to its other hand to warm up. Grinning, it wound up then pitched with the speed of a demon. The orb of white leather blasted across the grass in a blur of white swiftness. A fastball. Despite the Rock Pokemon's lack of experience, its pitch was perfectly preformed. It had perfected its throw by constantly refining its Rock Throw, and the hard work was clearly paying off.   
The trio had stumbled across a baseball field in a small town and decided to play a game to relax from the stress of traveling through the steep mountains they had just conquered. And with Pokemon, the game seemed more enjoyable, watching the ignorant Psyduck sit dumbly in the emerald green depths of right field. But the aura of simple hearted fun and recreation was not destined to last.   
A swirl of black, ominously looming cloud suddenly emerged from the darkening horizon instantly, as the baseball amazingly halted in mid air. An echo of fear and surprise was dominated by a legendary blast of thunder as it attained a black glow then quickly disoriented itself. Looking on in awe, Pokemon and humans alike, the orb began to define itself and shift ominously. A sudden knife of lightning crashed into the darkly glowing ball, erupting the darkness in a brief flash of blinding white. And as the mist of lethal electricity melted away, a deadly creature emerged.   
Threatening midnight blue eyes that devilishly gleamed with a tint of blood lust; A lethal, dangerous muzzle of white fangs; A jet-black body bristling with thick, majestic fur; The ominous aura of a demon.   
The sable wolf gnashed at the air, its dark blue eyes attaining a flare of red, and lashed its head toward the flinching, terrified humans, its jet black fur bristling in cold excitement. Its tail snaked with liquid grace of a cobra, a potent growl rippling out from its throat, sifting through the bared, lethal white teeth.   
Ash was jolted with a shock of terror that had just shattered the trance the transformation of the wolf had inflicted, the bat sliding through his fingers and into the grass lashing violently in the stormy wind. As the metal heavily collided with the ground, the usually metallic echo was absent as it hit. The only audible noise was that of the rabid, bloodthirsty growl emitting from the wolf.   
Panic thrashing and whirling in his mind in a painful grasp, Ash bolted, quickly reacting by lashing out his Poke Balls and recoiling each of his Pokemon. Misty and Brock instantly mimicked his retreat, frantically returning their Pokemon and sprinting for their lives. Black eyes immersed in fear and the draining, shell-shocking adrenaline rush violently pumping through its vein, amplifying is madly beating heart so that each beat was like a drum, Pikachu ran. Dodging an ungodly fast snap of the wolf, the frantically shrieking Thunder mouse ran after.   
The wolf smiled secretly at their resistance, abandoning its harsh, wild composure, and glided its sleek, deathly black head to the dark, stormy sky and teased the clouds with a forbidding howl. It flickered sadly, and then jolted up to a tone of death and thrill, crying a foreboding beckon of death to the racing humans. A black glow enveloped its midnight blue eyes ominously, highlighting its eyes from the rippling, majestic forest of ebony fur with a faint glow of silver.   
Ash and Misty paused at the howl, Ash protectively clutching Pikachu to his heaving chest; Misty gasping for breath and her azure eyes shrieking in terror. Brock was nearly to safety, a small, rundown house, as they stopped and anxiously yelled for them to hurry. But his cry was slain by a startling crack of thunder.   
The wolf snapped its killing jaws in unearthly unison with the blast of cruel sound that violently burned their senses, a bolt of psychic energy lashing out at an impossible speed toward the two ten year olds. Ash and Misty locked gazes, unable to react in time to do anything else, their disheartening gazes whispering a goodbye. And as the bolt of prophetic power curved above them, arching down in a thunderbolt of destiny, they grasped each other's hand.   
Blackness. And a pair of midnight blue eyes laughing.   


Chapter 1   
"Prophecy"

A thick, storm gray coat of clouds enveloped the sky in a death grip of Vision's potent power. Silver lightning fissured the sky with a flash of blinding light. Beneath the dark shadow of the storm, swiftly gliding across the black grass as if on a demon's wings, a sleek, sable canine raced toward a looming, ice crusted orb hovering a foot over the lashing grass. As the dog ran a stab of impending danger flared with a venomous sting in its chest, slowing its gait to a cautious, tentative walk as a stab of burning pain confirmed the warning.   
A roar suddenly shattered the tense aura thickly immersing the mountain edged, dark meadow as a flash of light rained down on the jolted animal, along with a violently stinging cascade of rainbow sparks that illuminated the grassy clearing in a flash of multi-colors. A yelp of surprise escaped from the wolf's jaws as it lurched wildly backwards, from the jolt the thunderbolt had potently whipped through its mind.   
An icy wind whirled up in a minute whirlwind, a silent challenge, and lingered before erupting in a fiery blaze. And within the spiral of lethal embers, a screech emitted from the fire tornado, manipulating the flames into the vague shape of a dragon. The flames were constantly flickering, burning, and licking the air with dangerous vitality, a rivalry burning in those flame adorned, venomous red eyes. The dragon anxiously gnashed the air and snaked its tail in anticipation of a long awaited battle. It flicked its head and reared up, screeching and flailing in a challenge.   
As it slunk down, the flames that had once enveloped it dying instantly, its body glowed with prophetic power no mortal Pokemon could outstrip. But as its evil scarlet eyes adjusted to the dusky meadow, they discovered an empty, black-tinted sea of grass. Warily scanning the meadow in swift glances, snorting a trail of smoke from its nostrils, it causally spit a minute tongue of black energy that, almost as if by magic, lighted its immediate surrounding. The Evil energy escaped from the lethal, fanged jaws of the muscular dragon, then formed into a black flame that hung like a 3d image before the Daemon, highlighted with a chain of golden sparks.   
The flame flickered, casting light five feet from the wary creature as it slowly turned, intently searching with dangerously glaring eyes. The wolf was gone.   
Hissing in frustration, it whirled around, rabidly screeching and screaming into the dark. Its sleek, serpent like, dark green body was glowing with an ominous tint of bloodthirsty fury. Its flame-enveloped wings swiped the air, dusting the sky with embers that fluttered into the clouds.   
As the raging dragon continued to roar and slash at the darkness in frustration, its angry challenges that had before fallen futile now were answered.   
A slinking, fluid shadow circled in a demonically fast whirl of black and glinting suggestions of dark, forbidding blue. The wolf agilely snapped at the dragon, lethal fangs bore, and blurred past him in a legendary Agility attack, grazing its teeth on its cheek as a dangerously close warning strike. Recoiling into the shadows as swiftly as it had emerged, the canine Daemon growled, the waving, deep snarl echoing in the darkness, and flashed a pair of gleaming, midnight blue eyes in an arrogant challenge.   
Recovering from the grazing blow, the dragon gnashed angrily in rage, then roared and reared back on its hind legs, blazing in an aura of Evil, Psychic, Fire, and Thunder energy. Brandishing its glinting black claws and slashing them out, a fireball formed between the killing claws. It was an black orb, stringed with minute Thunderbolts, adorned with brilliant red flames, and sparking with lavender, tiny sparks.   
Arrogantly grinning, the dragon Daemon fingered the sphere with venomous hate; stroking it with long, scythe like claws. Then prepared to launch the fireball at its rival.   
The wolf emerged from the darkness, swiftly shifting from its shadow form, and faced the dragon's ensuing assault with the icy calm of a killer. Narrowing its navy blue eyes and curling back its shadowy gray lips in a snarl, the completely black canine snapped, forming a spear of misty, glittering white energy. The two fierce rivals tensed, then attacked.   
  
In the black shadow of the storm, the icy wind playfully nipping and beckoning at its glistening ice blue fur, an equine, ice blue figure was highlighted against the darkening sky, edged with an electric, stunning blizzard blue. Shards of transparent, glowing ice composed the majestic mane and tail that glided through the air like jagged silk. The horse Daemon snorted, a haze of white emitting from its nostrils, then pawed the grass with its gray hoof. It wanted to run, and the wind guided it back from where it came. But no, it had to reach the meeting place, especially before those two idiots started bickering again.   
Denying the internal instinct to sprint with the wind, the Rapidash like Daemon reared in a blur of tints of light blue, then streaked at the speed of light across the grass in the same direction the wolf had taken, the grass violently flying into the air as it sped by. The minute snowstorms on its heels icily burned as it flicked its mane of blue snowflakes, and charged faster than any eye could track across the dark, lapping sea of grass. The grass hissed in the wind it created.  
Violently whinnying in a shrill voice like an unruly, vicious stallion that sliced blackness of the prophesied night, it charged on in the shadow of the storm, destined for the Dusk plateau.   
A sudden eruption of fire raining down lighted the infinitely dark, stormy meadow of Destiny, a tiny ember in the blur of speed. The flicker of lethal Fire blinked out suddenly, but was ensued by a whirl of bloodthirsty screeches and dangerous screams of fury. A snarl and glow of dark energy challenged the producer of the shrieks of anger, and was finally linked with a legendary glow of white Vision and multi-colored Strength.   
Those stupid boys were fighting, again. Screaming in a rage of frustration and fed-up anger, the horse blasted a mist of frost into the air, the majestic ice shards flashing into a crackling, sparking mane of lightning. She had to stop them before they went and destroyed each other in thickheaded pride.   
Straining its body, the Speed Daemon whirled its legs in a blaze of ungodly swiftness, almost instantly skidding to a fierce stop before the two snarling rivals. Furious, brilliant electric yellow eyes the horse flicked its Thunder mane that bolted a lethal lance of lightning, violently shattering the venomous snarls of the Daemons. The startling, screeching scream of the lightning was the first event to register in their minds besides the fight, causing the animals to pause slightly, absently releasing their attacks.   
Gritting her teeth in frustration at their stupidity, the Ice Rapidash snarled in a shrill nasal tone and aimed a shimmering knife of lightning at the two attacks. Tensing her skittish body for a thunderous blast of assaulting sound, the horses reared swiftly back on agile heels and retreated a good five meters to assure her safety. And she was not retreated for a little firecracker explosion; she knew that a fusion of Lightning Assault, Spirit Spear, and Prophecy would fissure the sky in half.   
The most powerful Daemons gazed confusedly at each other, trying to realize just happened. But as the deadly thunderbolt nicked the blur of color and brushed lethally against each other, the electricity averting the Vision and Strength attacks fused with them, and the sky seemed to burst in a furious, unimaginable eruption of sound. It was like standing inside a volcano as it is erupting, having a jet plane blast past your ears, and listening to a boombox and headset on max all at once.   
The fatal sparks of Thunder fused potently with the Fire, triggering a deadly hell of flames that would of shamed an atomic bomb, assaulting the wolf, whirling down like some demonic inferno slashing with toxic fangs of poisonous fumes and hellish flames. Its midnight blue eyes glinting the explosions brilliant illumination that bathed everything in blood red light, the panicking wolf darted out of the killer's way in an instant, the flames licking at its heels as it began to frantically run for its life.   
Although its sleek, swift body, the wolf was instantly consumed by exhaustion that burned at its stomach and slashed at its heart, causing the vital organ to drum in a thundering flurry of furious beats that was not engulfed by the prophetic roar of the explosion, sprinting as fast as its legs would admit without collapsing as the blast of flames pursed coldly. As a spiraling tongue of Fire sliced down at its heels, the wolf Daemon apprehensively analyzed the situation swiftly developing around it in a lethal inferno, then realized the danger of using an attack. Another assault of potency would instantaneously destroy him and cause the entire area to erupt in fatal, toxic flames, annihilating the prophecy that all four Daemons were essential to.   
The bristling sable fur that thickly furred the sleek canine glinted the blood red light emanating from the fire and trapped the sultry, charring heat, causing it to overheat and stumble for the icy air beyond the inferno ominously, mortally shrouding it in its own demise. Collapsing into the grass down a brilliant, luminous orange in the firelight, the panting, harshly wheezing Daemon temporarily lay prone in the inferno of flames, midnight blue eyes retaining their striking, resilient gleam of perseverance as it hastily resorted to its final, critical technique of escape from death lurking in the embers malevolently dancing before it in a flickering, devilish dance of death.   
Laboriously wheezing and sucking in ragged breaths that were cruelly choked by the toxic fumes from the blast and the ash of the fires now raging across the plain, the animal drunkenly but futilely clawed at the ground, attempting to rise, and was confirmed by its results that its failure to rise clearly inflicted. Despite its weakness, it had to transform to escape the flames. But that would be defying the physics of Pokemon; surpassing the maximum of attacks restricted to a pocket monster by morphing for a sixteenth time since it was rested. Flames roared violently and spit venomously burning ash and embers into its eyes as it flinched but remained on it heaving side, looming like fiery serpents over the injured body of their prey.   
Misty thoughts raced through its mind as the wolf laid, at the mercy of the devils lurking in the glittering bonfire closing in around it, in a potential deathbed, and drew a deep, sultry breath of broiling air flecked with poisonous fumes that cruelly whirled the fiery world into a spiraling smear of red and dimly sliced the demonic roaring of the flames with an anguished lament that discouraged even the most icy hearts; a poignant whimper in the fury of the storm. Another toxic breath of fumes finally enveloped the fiery world in ominous blackness and the venomous laughing of the fire seemed to inch closer despite the Daemon's excruciating yet fragile endeavors to keep the inferno at bay. It could barely breath and maintain the barrier at the same time, temporarily blinded by the cinders and fatal heat, let alone transform.   
So, as its fading strength finally melted away in a fatal flare of charring heat, the wolf lay still as the flames approached.   


Blackness was the only savior for a dejected yet infuriated soul as it weakly sealed its brilliant, glittering eyes as it inhaled a deep, encouraging breath that subdued the furious sparks of its impatient heart. The wisp of crisp, icy air caressed its throat in a breeze of blissful cold, and gently stroked its chest and cooled the tense hotness that had kindled there in its furious rage that had been eternally planted on that one day. That horrible, loathsome day that they had denied the legendary strength of a Daemon; the day they had made the most dangerous mistake of their lives.   
Flashing open its forbidding sparkling eyes glinted the Fire Opal's gleaming colors as it ominously glowed with its anger, the fiendish creature trotted warily in the glittering blackness of the Shadow Mountain mists, waiting. Its devilishly gleaming eyes were a fiery mixture of ruby and saffron sparks flecked over a brilliant mist of green, like a fire consuming a forest. And in a way, it was the fire. A blazing fire of the deadliest emotion that could thrive in a creature was flourishing wildly like a wildfire, gleaming in the Fire Opal stringed around its neck: Vengeance   


Author notes   
************

Well, what did you think??? This is my first Dark fic and I have to thank 1) Whoever wrote the book The Golden Compass for giving my the idea for Daemons in the first place. And I did NOT steal the idea of daemons; they are a thing in the dictionary and are public; and 2) Ace and Alicia Ashby for inspiring me to write a Dark fanfic. I know I'm probably not half as good as you are but I'm trying.   
As for the ending section, I just got an idea as I was just about to write about the Strength and Speed Daemons and decided to add a mysterious new character ^_^ Take a guess at what it is… I really won't describe what it is fully until the sequel, but you will get a glimpse of it at the very end of this fic.   
Oh and one more thing. I wonder if anyone can guess what Ash and co. have to do with the Daemons… for any of you who have read The Golden Compass, you'll probably know   
Please send comments, flames, suggestions, slices of cake and cookies to chustang@fcmail.com   
  



	2. Venom and Tears

Dusk   
By Chustang   
* * * * * 

Chapter 2   
"Venom and Tears" 

  
  


Fire. Her greatest disadvantage.   
Like a devil, the flames laughed at her, like ghosts, as they licked the sultry air and challenged her strength in a brushfire that slithered toward the ice horse. The aura of blood red enveloping the inferno stung her ice blue eyes even though it wasn't even hot near her, clouding them with a mist of chaos and anguish. Despite her Daemon powers, the arctic Rapidash flinched and recoiled from the victorious laughing of the fire, her mane of snowflakes bristling in fear like daggers.   
She knew that her fate, her destiny, depended on the wolf's survival. If a single element of the prophecy were destroyed, her and the others' ashes would litter the grass. If one died, they all did.   
And gazing uneasily into the roaring inferno that had consumed the Vision Daemon, the majestic horse flickered her eyes toward the dragon that loomed six feet high and demonic, adorned with Thunderbolts, razor sharp horns, claws, and wings of fire, next to her. Her mind inattentively drifted from the harsh grasp of terror, absently focusing on the dragon Daemon, and the icy, glittering blue coloring flashed to a furious red in anger. Her mane instantly transforming into a bristling, flashing blast of lightning with a dangerous roar of thunder, an impending blast of Thunderquake causing her body to hiss with electricity, the Ice/Thunder Daemon whirled her hooves at its head, rearing, and screamed, "You idiot!!"   


Ash was lost in dreams. Unconscious, they immersed him in what would be only distant memories of his perfect life. Storms raged in skies of hostile black. Sunlight drifted like dust from the sky; clouds loomed like white blossoms high above.   
But something was missing, like a piece out of a thousand piece puzzle. It was just a minor detail, dominated and hidden from obvious sight, but it existed. Every time he studied Misty's eyes, their gleam of brilliant life was absent, and her azure irises seemed like a faded image, staring eternally through him but never truly seeing. The sun's glare of summer never seemed to actually create the bliss it had before. And gradually, the dreams drifted away, drifting like flecks of gold in a world of shadow.   
Millions of golden flecks gathered in a mist, his memories, his world, and twisted like a snake of light. It lingered like a frost in the night, but, glinting once in a goodbye, vanished into the blackness instantly. Something inside him was tweaked with a flare of apprehension, and he vaguely lashed out his hand, as if to capture them and recover the fading memories. But the faint, ghostlike glow faded away was consumed by black. Suddenly, the gold glow flashed like a distant flashlight pointed straight at him, as if summoning him to his destiny, a minute dot of light.   
Ash interpreted this as a warning, but something in the dark hissed like an infuriated devil suddenly, causing him to lurch back from the hostile warning. But as he recoiled from the first sound, another furious screech emitted from the shadows behind him, scaring him back in another direction. But yet another savage animal made itself known with a deafening shriek of furious anger.   
Demons. Demons lurked and circled, hissing rabidly, in the dark. Their red eyes pierced the infinite shadows like blood red rubies, dancing as they darted around. Rare, faint glints of silver glistened on their formless bodies, like deathly gray moonlight. Drooling, gnashing jaws snapped ominously, and the air was alive with their vicious, bloodthirsty snarls and growls. But, somehow, they seemed… like… Pokemon.   
Dodging their jaws that missed him by inches, darting and twisting to avoid a fatal wound, Ash apprehensively yelped in surprise, gazing fretfully into the darkness adorned with venomously gleaming eyes of blood red. They seemed to light up at his fear, evilly grinning and snarling in wild abandon as they hissed and spat white embers at him, enjoying his terror and screams. The white sparks bitterly stung his eyes and skin, burning demonically in bloodlust. They seemed to melt through his skin, tearing ravenously at his blood, like rabid sprites of white fire.   
Wildly thrashing and quickly brushing of the embers that grew into flames, Ash suddenly detected an ominous, feral snarl from behind him, the ghastly growl causing his body to freeze in deathly fear. But as he refused to turn around, a rabid, infuriated bark fiercely ordered him to, and he quickly whirled to face his attacker.   
Venomous red eyes; a drooling mouth with an arsenal of fangs; a stocky body that sloped upward; and vengeance burning in those ruby, emerald, and gold eyes. The bloody hyena released a hysterical laugh from its jaws dripping with drool and blood, its brilliant eyes glittering devilishly. Curling back its dusky red lips in arrogant, silent laughter, it warned in a silky voice, "Destiny isn't eternal… Revenge has come." As it slunk from the shadows, coming into a pale, pastel glow of moonlight, the savage, vile creature proudly strutted and a glint of fire-colored light flashed from deep in its spotted, darkened fur. The object was concealed by a tuft of dark red fur, just a string of delicate gold showed, and then the pendant was released from the thick fur.   
Catching the light like a demon and absorbing it, as if the moonlight was a match that had just ignited a bonfire, the Fire Opal glowed as if on fire, and then it enveloped the hyena in a reddish gold aura. The glow left the darkness untouched, giving it a ghostly look.   
The gem suddenly danced with gold, ruby, orange, and black colors, as if it was laughing itself. It seemed to challenge him, kindling a tweak of anger and hatred in him, and, when the hysterically shrieking and laughing hyena ceased its laughter and lunged with savage intentions, those revolting, bloodthirsty eyes pushed him too far.   
Revenge. Hah. Vengeance would be his.   
Ash raised a clenched fist. But as it drew it back to gain enough momentum when he struck, a pulse of realization jerked him back to reality. What was he doing? Revenge – what was he thinking? He had never even seen that, that demon before. Confusion clouded his brain. Yet despite his logic, something inside him screamed to attack, to kill the traitor. NO! Ash screamed to himself, this was not logical; this couldn't be reality. Yet, the burning pain in his face and arms from the ember was not a dream. The blood streaming down his cheek was proof of his pain.   
Snapping back to 'reality', Ash screamed as the rabid hyena lunged with fangs bared and slashed with lethal claws and evilly shrieked in impending victory. And as the savage animal scored a deep wound from his bloodied cheek to the base of his neck as it whirled past, missing the essential veins by a hair's breadth, his anger grew.   
Revenge agilely landed, Ash's blood stained on its muzzle, and spun to attack again. Lavishly licking its lips in rapture, the hyena sneered at its victim now downed and restraining hot tears of pain, sprawled out on his stomach, "I AM Revenge." It grinned. "Hear me roar."   
Ash still fumed with the sudden, mysterious fury the hyena inflicted, but his punished body collapsed in weak protest against any resistance. If this was a dream, those demons would vanish and he'd wake up. But what if he didn't…   
Revenge leaped.   
Ash accepted his fate.   
Vision snarled and leaped like a black comet in furious rage, its midnight blue eyes roaring silently and black fur glistening like sable silk. Whirling an arsenal of teeth just as deadly, the swift Daemon violently slammed its slim, powerfully built body into the hyena, snapping savagely in dangerous rage that flickered in its blue eyes. The wolf landed gracefully but with the lethal potency of a killer, its bushy black tail lashing the air like a furry cobra and snarled viciously, positioned protectively before Ash. Death was beckoning in those icily glaring eyes.   
Recovering, the repulsive hyena staggered drunkenly to its feet, clearly dazed and its blood stained back to them. Its ragged breath was ominously loud and labored, but gradually melded into laughter. The rough, evil and impending laughter from the demon caused the wolf to flinch in caution, unsure of what the crazed creature was planning. Glancing apprehensively around, the Vision Daemon searched the darkness for the hyena's comrades, but the shadows were still and black.   
This troubled the brave Daemon. Revenge was not a forgiving person, and this was not a good sign. The fact that it had been injured in the fire was not pleasing either.   
Revenge released a snarl of fierce abandon, whirling around in a flurry of fury and bloodlust. Those maddened, multi-colored eyes were blazing in hellish rage and its jaws were gaping and dripping with blood and drool. With speed that seemed impossible for its bulky body, the hyena cackled insanely and lunged at the Vision Daemon. Tensing, the wolf prepared to counter the demon's attack, rapidly forming an attack to block Revenge's. Whirling its jaws once, thick foam frothed around its lips, snarling savagely as it lurched at the hyena as well.   
The two demons, one evil and one good, clashed in midair, the very darkness flinching as a roar of thunder announced the anger of the wolf. Arrogantly grinning, the hyena gracefully landed on astonishingly swift and agile legs, watching its rival stagger at the force of its strike.   
Stumbling, Vision yelped shrilly, abandoning its attack and staggering weakly to put some distance between it and its adversary. Its breath was labored and midnight blue eyes strained, the sable wolf defiantly stood tall as if to intimidate Revenge and swiftly glanced at the wound slashed into its flesh. The bloody gash was bleeding freely, painting a scarlet stripe horizontally across its black fur of shadow. Gnashing its teeth in frustration, Vision barked a courageous insult at the demon that was amazingly winning, and snorted to finish the insolent challenge. Then it formed a silent Spirit Spear that was leveled before it.   
Revenge grinned arrogantly, slowly approaching the wolf with mocking compassion. Flashing egotistical, gruesome smiles of blackened and bloody teeth, it haughtily asked, "Don't like what it feels like to be the inferior, Vision?" Its charade melted away to subtle rage and disgust, circling the bloodied wolf at a speedy, enraged walk. "No, of course not. You where always the big shot, weren't you? Huh?" It quickly spat a stream of acid that instantly dissolved the weak Spirit Spear. "Of course. Why wouldn't you, being the lead Daemon? Hero of the whole pack; stronger than Strength. The Wolf of Vision." Its pointed muzzle gored with blood of its victims was jabbed into the wolf's face for emphasis, those red, green, and yellow eyes gleaming dangerously. "Life was perfect, wasn't it?? You had the strongest element, speed, power, intelligence – everything!! You had made the cut. *Superior* to the other Daemons. And a total bitch."   
Ash watched in paralysis as the infuriated hyena circled the wolf, Vision's face as impassive as stone. As the violent conversation progressed, the darkened demon stained with blood aggressively brushed the wolf, pushing it over not so subtly.   
Shadows lurked like animate nightmares; a cage of blackness. Gazing at the mortal enemies with misty eyes, Ash flinched and scrambled wildly to his feet, shivering violently. If this was a nightmare, why didn't he wake up? And why did those midnight blue eyes seem so familiar? They wrenched at his soul, dejectedly gazing at him as if to say, "I failed."   
Suddenly, the hyena flickered an eye toward him without turning its head, as if remembering an old vengeance, and grinned evilly, curling back its black lips to reveal rotten, lethally sharp fangs. "An now," Revenge silkily taunted, ominously slinking toward Ash with devilish eyes, "Vision's little master shall feel true pain."   
Vision flinched in surprise, its punished body paralyzed with shock, then quickly recovered itself and lunged to protect its destined master. But the swift wolf just didn't have enough energy to keep the explosive sprint going, and it crashed to the ground in an heap of black fur, struggling to get up.   
Grinning, the ravenously laughing hyena stalked the injured human, the Fire Opal stringed around its stocky neck glowing vibrantly. It whispered, "Destiny isn't eternal," smirked, and then pounced. 

Fire dominated the ice blue beauty of those infuriated eyes as the screaming horse Daemon snorted and slashed steel hard hooves in anger. Lashing a razor sharp tail of ice shards that missed the dragon's face by inches, she kept screaming and shrieking. "Idiot!!!!" The dragon Daemon recoiled and glared at the horse, despite the fact it was two feet taller and able to melt her with one breath. In a rage, the ice Rapidash continued to press forward, spitting arrows of ice that the Strength Daemon easily evaded. "You and your stupid rivalry!! You're going get us killed!"   
The horse paused, worn out from the fiery surge of rage and speed, her ragged breaths coming in short snorts of frosty gray mist. Braced on shivering legs, she restrained another explosion of rage and bitterly hissed at the dragon, "Don't just stand there; put the fire out." Her ragged breaths melded into subtle snorts of anger, as her temper was barely controlled. The bickering between the two stronger Daemons had always pricked a nerve for her, and it had built up an ocean of anger at their foolishness. Despite their arguments, Vision and Strength had never really attacked each other, and the fight had finally pushed her over the edge.   
Stunned at the fury of Speed, the dragon gazed at her in shock, a new sense of respect for the fierce equine causing it to just gape in awe. Then suddenly jerking from its trance, the Daemon sulked, bitterly slinking to the brushfire's edge as she watched with intent eyes.   
In disgust, the horse spat a fleck of frost before drawing a deep sigh to subside her furiously drumming heart. A spark of pain kindled in her leg, alerting her that she had strained her right front leg. Great, she thought. Sighing, the sleek horse gradually collapsed onto her knees in the grass that brushed her skin in the wind, sealing her anguished baby blue eyes. It whispered to her in a language she wished she spoke, inviting into healing sleep, summoning her to a place of black peace. The Daemon knew that resting wasn't an option, but her punished mind and body screamed in protest at the slightest twist of her head and her exhaustion engulfed her in burning pain.   
Looking back, Speed wished she hadn't killed Windy. He should of won, even if it meant being crippled and deprived of her swift grace. Then she wouldn't be a demon. Tears streamed secretly down her ice blue cheeks as she asked herself, tilting her head toward the stars, why did I become a murder? 

But as Revenge crouched and coiled for the attack, memories flooded his mind. 

_Tears were silent companions on his gruesome face as he hid his "filthy ugliness and worthlessness" from the world. They had said that he was a beast with not a speck of talent. They had shredded his dreams and scattered them around him like lost memories, swirling around him but just out of his reach. Blackness hung like shadows of his life, haunting him like ghosts, a heavy coat of grief pressing on his chest. His sobs were feral sounding; rapid intakes of breath, and the savageness of even his crying shamed him further._   
_The creature hunched over in the light of the moon, burying his face in the grass and staring at the silver-painted ground. Slowly, his sobs receded to occasional sniffs and mild burning in his eyes, the final tear trickling down his longish, blackened snout and weaving through his rough fur. The orb of pain stung his nose as it touched it, lingered slightly, and slid off. He watched the tear drift into the dark of the grass, glinting a moon ray in goodbye. Suddenly, he jerked his face from the ground, brooding in his brilliant and anguished eyes mutely._   
_"Daemons." He bitter spat into the grass at the revolting word. "Who needs them?" Recovering his wind, the bloodied animal staggered up from the depths of the ghostly gray grass, intently gazing around. Moonlight glazed everything over with a silvery tint, the eternal moon gradually shifting to its new moon form and coating blackness in thin layers over the Shadow World. He was on a gently sloping plain that was edged with ominously still, looming trees that seemed to laugh as if they knew something you didn't. About thirty feet away, on a steep hill glistening in frost and cut off at one end like the edge of a cliff, he detected a flash of icy blue movement agilely racing up the grassy side._   
_The creature he had observed gracefully slowed, its indefinite, misty form refining itself, and her beautiful mane was captured by the wind and drifted like silk. Silver light was absorbed by her silky blue fur and danced on her skin like sprites. Her brilliant blue eyes glimmered in the night as she paused, glanced back, and nickered impatiently to her unseen companions. The ice horse turned back to the moon's ghostly gaze, as if chatting with the silver, disc-shaped satellite, smiling as if it were making a joke. Her eyes glittered with frost, but despite being an Ice element, the creature below felt his heart melt._   
_Sprint._   
_He lavished that name. Sprint, the swiftest spirit. A sweet, compassionate soul with the intelligence to shame an Alakazam. A sleek, beautiful creature. Sighing, he gazed on with anguish, at her, standing there with her majestic mane and tail gliding in the wind she raced. A sensation of affection arose when he looked at her, and he couldn't deny that he loved her. She was perfect. Smart, fast, beautiful, strong… and a Daemon._   
_Despite the way he loathed Daemons, Poison knew she had dreamed to be the Speed Daemon, and her wish had been accomplished by her own endeavors. And when she had won that race, he had silently celebrated silently with her, although he had lost the chance to become a Daemon himself._   
_Poison found him drifting into a trance, but instantly was revived when those loathsome creatures dashed up on the frosted slope beside her, total ignorant of his presence. He hated, but couldn't deny, their liquid grace and intense yet passionate eyes. Star, the revolting canine who had gained the position of leader; Shadow, the maddeningly cool and smart feline; and Roar, the potent, brilliantly colored dragon, the living arsenal. The four Daemons._   
_Poison gritted his lethally sharp fangs, in envy and extreme hatred. Restraining an urge to attack, he gazed on with fiery rivalry as they exchanged elated yaps and purrs and whinnies. Star trotted agilely up to the edge of the steep ridge, followed by the immense dragon and tabby-sized but potent cat. They all titled their heads to the glittering heavens, and began the ritual._   
_Shadow gracefully released a fierce yowl/roar into the eternal night sky, causing the midnight to light up with an ominous, dark gray tint. The minute Daemon soared his fearsome song into the darkness as Roar cocked his horned head to the heavens as well, caressing the night with his song. It was a savage, yet mysterious roar of furious abandon that flickered a sliver of apprehension into Poison as the serenade continued._   
_In her blue beauty, Sprint flicked her head up, her mane of ice glistening like diamonds. Her enchanting song teased the ears and soul of Poison as he gazed with awe at her stunning beauty. Instead of the shrill, wavering challenge of a horse, she released a sweet, incredible note that made the hidden creature below feel as if he could die right there and then. It was like a beautiful bird song, soothing and majestic._   
_And finally, Star had his entrance. On a mysterious, magnificent note, his prophetic song was like the melodic cry of a ghost. It sent a violent, ominous tingle of fear and awe down Poison's spine, a haunting song of death, life, love, hate, light, dark and mystery._   
_Poison couldn't stand it any longer._   
_The demon turned and sprinted like the wind down the plain, plunging into the ominous darkness he shunned and invited, crying madly. He didn't even look back._

_* * *_

__

_ Thunder roared in wild, savage abandon as it fissured the sky in half. The awesome, dazzling assaults of lightning flickered in unison with the blasts, raging a war of light and death. Clouds of shadow enveloped the midnight sky, casting a dramatic scene for the dejected, pitiful creature that gloomily walked with its blackish muzzle nearly brushing the grass that lashed in the vicious wind. Poison sauntered with no destination through the woods, their dangerous, ominous darkness and whispers not even being noticed._   
_ He considered suicide, but dismissed it with a single memory of Sprint's captivation beauty. Death only would erase his single, happy thought, her._   
_ In the sheets of misty rain, Poison lost himself in anguishing memories, burning tears, and pain. The storm raged for hours, drilling deep into the blackness with lethal thunderbolts, before the blast of nature's fury died away and revealed a dome of star-flecked midnight blue. He trudged onward, immersed in thought. The demon's blackened paws scraped against the dew-flecked grass, thin and lanky. As he stared sadly at his feet, Poison gazed at his claws absently, and suddenly realized, with a jolt, just what they could do. Glistening and scythed but only an inch long, they were dangerous weapons. He suddenly thought of what would happen if he had attacked the four Daemons and had accidentally slashed Sprint…--_   
_ "Ouuoouuuuuuuuuuooou………"_   
_ Poison jerked up his blackened head darkened from the rain, intently scanning the thick screen of ominous trees with intense ruby, gold, and emerald colored eyes. His heart thumped in his chest wildly as the disheartening moan was followed by a pained yelp. It was echoed by a ragged, rough howl, a combination of hatred, anguish, and revenge. But in the fury of the storm, the moan was lost, making it nearly impossible to track down whatever was clearly injured._   
_ Uncertain of how to react, the confused hyena glanced warily around, intently studying its eternally dark environment. The shadows were easily pierced and it detected another cry from deep in the forest's darkness. It was louder this time but more strained and anguished, painfully signaling for help. It was almost completely alien to him, like a new killer disease to a doctor, but yet he knew…_   
  
_ Poison clawed his way through the gnarled mass of sharp thorns, snapping and violently ripping away the vines with bared teeth. The pricks of the thorns were easily ignored, but the hyena still felt their mild stabs of pain. He was grateful for his thick, tough coat that deflected most of them, and continued on without hesitation. Poison drew closer to his destination, a secluded, dark cave where the whimpers were coming from, glancing a dull black of stone though the thorn grove._   
_ He soon came to a thick wall of thorns, a painful barrier that protected its inhabitants, surrounding the cave. Like lashing whips, a wind boiled up suddenly, causing the vines to beat at the hyena, scratching him painfully just below his eyes, his nose and muzzle and tender ears. Poison yelped in pain, and then released his rage on the branches, snapping savagely at the thorns in a frenzy of anger. Despite his physical strength and toughness, he recoiled instantly as the sharp points found flesh in his mouth of fangs, drawing blood. But Poison was just stabbed by more thorns as he jolted back. And then realized, with anger and pain clouding his mind, he was trapped._   
_ Great, Poison bitterly spat to himself, trapped by killer daisies._   
_ The gnarled net of bushes reached about five feet above the ground, allowing only a bit of clearance for the 4'7" tall hyena to travel through. In frustration, Poison frantically, furiously snapped at random vines, ignoring the pain, in a fury. Thrashing and savagely ripping, he managed to tear a short clearing but needed to rest before continuing._   
_ Poison knew that blindly ripping a trail would just slash his mouth to shreds, but he couldn't find a better solution and braced himself for the pain. Whirling down his fangs again, he charged into the thicket, ignorant of the eyes intently watching…_   
_ Grab. Snap. Tear. Grab. Snap. Tear. Painfully, slowly, he crawled his way through the thick wall, relentlessly ripping at it. Vines cracked like tough wood in his mouth, coating his mouth with a bitter, dry taste of dead vegetation. Another snap. He lunged, expecting hard, brittle wood – and felt the warm, yielding softness of flesh. Startled, the hyena jolted back, gazing at the *vine* he had bitten with curious eyes._   
_ A thin, soft vine of greenish-blue color withered in pain, like a blue worm, twisting and thrashing. It clicked in his misty mind that it was familiar, but it still shocked him. The vine was pierced with two deep puncture wounds, and suddenly recoiled into its brother vines, as if it were an animal nursing its wound. Ominous silence echoed afterward, and Poison wasn't sure of what to do. A throbbing fear screamed at him not to go closer, and a fear of what would happen to that creature in the cave._   
_ Hesitant, Poison tentatively stepped forward then paused, waiting for the reaction._   
_ Silence._   
_ He took another cautious step, and when no reaction was shown, barreled at the vines, ready to rip them away –_   
_ Hsssssssssssssssss!!_   
_ A furious hiss emitted from the tangle of weeds, soon followed by various angry shrieks, barks, and screeches. Poison leapt back, eyes wide with shock and terror, nervously crawling back and whimpering. And he was sent careening in mad terror as an unknown creature violently hissed and slashed at his rump. In his frenzy, the hyena furiously darted at the thorn barrier in sheer, blinding panic, searching for a way out of this death trap. He found none, but discovered more hidden demons lurking in the darkness of the thicket, circling him stealthily like ghosts._   
_ Poison yelped as another assault landed on him, a tongue of fire scorching his fur. The hyena released an angry shriek, hissing and baring his gruesome teeth at his attacker, which instantly recoiled into the bush. A faint whisper of snickers and restrained laughter drifted in the thorn bushes, mocking his fear and apparent weakness. He glanced a few rare flashes of faint light reflecting off his tormentors' bodies._   
_ Suddenly a flash of light he had detected darted toward him at a full dash, halting in a cloud of dust, twin, glowing yellow eyes piercing the smoke. The creature began to spark with electricity, and the dust was dissolved in a shower of sparks._   
_ Despite his poor Pokemon knowledge, Poison could clearly see this Thunder Pokemon was a renegade and wasn't too pleased with his intrusion._   
_ The Raichu flicked its thunderbolt-shaped tail impatiently, agilely crouching on four legs, even though its limbs were stubby and round. Its menacing appearance came from its venomously glowing eyes, the dark, bloody fur, and the eruption of electricity forming around its cheeks. The Pokemon laid back its frilly ears threatening, emitting a grim, angered "RaaaaAAAI…" before collecting its voltage and producing a thin, white glow around its cheeks. "RAICHU!!"_   
_ Suddenly, a glittering mist of electricity lashed at Poison, a massive and deadly Thunder Wave. The attack swept forward at a startling rate, like a tsunami of lightning, aimed lethally for his head. The attack washed over him like the waves at the ocean, slowly dusting his skin with lethal light, as he spun to escape its grasp. But his lanky legs tensed up, paralyzed, and he was halted like a statue before the renegade Raichu, bloodied and petrified. Poison strained against the potency of the Thunder Wave, but his legs stubbornly refused to even twitch._   
_ Grinning, the rugged Pokemon arrogantly strode up to Poison, its dark brown fur matted with dirt and blood blending in with the surroundings. The hyena flinched suddenly as the Raichu stood up on two legs, shooting up two feet, glaring straight into his livid but visibly panic-stricken ruby, emerald, and gold flecked eyes. Definitely a renegade. It had that air of power and confidence found in bullies, but this Pokemon had scars and ragged gashes to prove it had bullies of its own._   
_ The Raichu flicked its tail in Poison's face to mock him, and he snapped at it in fury. The thunderbolt-shaped tail easily evaded his pathetic attempts, and the Raichu spoke as multiple Pokemon emerged from the brush. A Ninetails, Dragonair, a Bulbasaur with two wounds on its right vine, a Rapidash, Arbok, Arcanine, Umbreon, Houndoom, Charizard, Squirtle, Typhlosion, Wooper, and amazingly, a hovering pink Mew. All renegades; slashed and scared from great battles they had survived, their fur dark and bloody, gathered around the hyena._   
  
_ "Tsk, tsk, tsk. What do we have here?" The Raichu circled slowly, eyeing their capture with malicious, evilly gleaming eyes. He continued with hatred, crouching on four legs before the hyena. "A spirit? A demon? – Or perhaps, a Daemon?"_   
_ The metallic bird Wooper inched forward, brandishing gleaming steel wings, as it hissed in a screeching voice, "Murderous Daemon! You came to destroy the *weak* Pokemon you love to torment and kill, didn't you?! Well, this time, Pokemon strike back." It gnashed its beak in anger, barely restraining its temper._   
_ Raichu glanced back and said, "Steel! Cool it! We'll have time to get back at those backstabbing evolutions, but he isn't a Daemon, are you?"_   
_ Poison gritted his teeth in furious rage. He had been sore from the wounds of losing the chance to become a Daemon, to possess the powers of destructions, and now this. Wildly lunging his upper torso that had escaped effect, the hyena madly snapped at the Raichu, missing it by two wide feet. "You get over here and I'll give you a piece of this *Daemon*!!" he challenged the creatures that had imprisoned him with his own body._   
_ "Tough one, aren't we?" The Raichu laughed. "It makes you mad, doesn't it, when you know you aren't Daemon? You don't have the power, don't have the respect, but a mind to shame a million Daemons, and you can't even defeat a couple of Pocket Monsters." It laughed again at its own wit, folding his stubby arms and flashing a smug glance at Poison with its glowing yellow eyes. "The name's Sparky." He causally brushed a lock of wild fur that frilled out into the air. "What's yours, Loser?"_   
_ "Poison."_   
_ The Raichu smiled slightly, snapping his minute fingers. At the command, the blackish-blue dragonair slid up, a vial of fluorescent violet of, or what appeared to be, wisps of wind wrapped in the tip of its tail, and gave the vial to Sparky. The dragon Pokemon's gems on its throat and tail glowed an ice blue ominously, it sparking an angry gaze at him before recoiling to join its brother Pokemon._   
_ Sparky causally removed the cork that constrained the living wind, and the antidote escaped. The purple wisps of wind cascaded down to the ground and crept along until they reached his frozen paws. Tentatively, they gently nipped at his fur, and then streamed up his leg. Almost instantly, Poison could feel his sore, rigid muscles relax gradually, and was able to take a step forward. The rest of his body loosened up, and the purple wind evaporated. Poison shook his head and body to get his energy flowing through his veins again, slowly stretching._   
_ The Raichu watched with the intelligent, deducing eyes of a practiced spy and killer, darkened, rounded arms folded. His once glowing eyes had been reduced to a dark gold, and his cheeks were now pitch black. And Poison saw that the darkness of his fur was from dirt and blood, probably not his normal coloring. In fact, he glimpsed a glint of golden-tan fur. But that would mean…_   
_ "You're a Golden?" Poison asked suddenly, looking at him with astounded eyes._   
_ Sparky smiled and brushed a bit of dirt off his arms and chest, revealing the glistening fur of a Golden, and said, "So glad you noticed." His eyes sparkled mischievously, as if planning something. Golden strains of Pikachu and Raichu were extremely rare and only one Pikachu and Raichu before had been Golden. The rare strain was five times as strong and fast as a Raichu, and devious as well. Sparky was now a suspect and suspicious in the eyes of Poison._   
_ "Well, I might as well get to the point. No use to attempt to trick you. Your as sharp and alert as me, and I could never trick any one as smart as me," Sparky suddenly said out of the blue. "Poison, I have a offer to make you."_   
_ Poison gazed on in shock, but false shock. He was acting to lull the Raichu renegade into a state of overconfidence so he could trick him if he turned out to be traitorous._   
_ "You know as well as I do that you hate Daemons as much as me and my gang. They have shamed you by not choosing you for the team, am I right? You desire vengeance but are too weak to attack their powers. Well, Poison, you are on our side. We Pokemon are sick of being claimed as the weaklings of the Shadow World. Spirits, demons, Daemons, everything in the Shadow World picks on us, able with their enhanced strength to kill an amateur battler. And now, the renegade Pokemon shall take the sweet revenge we so rightfully deserve by destroying the demons, spirits, and especially, the Daemons. Poison, what I am saying is, we can get you what you want, but you must swear to be loyal to our force. Or else," – An aura of lightning enveloped his tail and his accomplishes narrowed their eyes, tensing, - "we will have to kill you."_   
_ Poison considered. The renegades were against the Daemons as well, and with training, could be as deadly as the four combined. Yet, they might kill Sprint… but still, he could save her. But the renegades might see him as a traitor and kill him, yet if he could have her…_   
_ He jerked up his head, gazing into the Raichu's eyes confidently, and said, "I agree."_   
_ Sparky smiled. He extended a bloody paw in acceptance. "Welcome to Revolt."_   
_ Suddenly, a weak, anguished yelp emitted from the cave only six feet from them, high and frantic. Poison, Sparky, and the renegades raised their heads to intercept the sound, all alertly scanning the surroundings. Confident that the creature was alive and would survive to make a good ally, the hyena demon trotted up to the thorn wall, slashing violently at the gnarled vines. Watching, and somehow understanding, the bloody Thunder Pokemon nodded and softly said, "Inferno, do it."_   
_ The Rapidash trotted up at the leader's command, glancing at the wall, and charged it. Poison jerked out of the way as the horse came barreling down, ripping and whirling faster than lightning, sending vines flying. Working furiously, Inferno gradually cut a tunnel through the wall of thorns. The stallion stepped back cautiously, admiring his work and inspecting it for enemies that could be lurking anywhere._   
_ "Nice…" Poison muttered in a bit of shock, amazed at how fast the Pokemon could tear an orderly, large tunnel, compared to his slow, painful and meager progress._   
_ "Isn't it?" Sparky smirked at him._   
_ Poison nodded, then the hyena sprinted in to the cave, trailed by the band of renegades.___

_ Agonized whines echoed through the cave painted in a dim silver tint from the dying moon, like a child crying. The hyena focused his powerful night vision, scanning the cave and cautiously trotting deeper in. Guided by the moans of pain, he drew closer to discovering who it truly was. But suddenly they stopped, echoing silence into the shadows. Poison glanced around in the pale, dim moonlight, calling out, "Anybody here? Hello?"_   
_ "Poison?"_   
_ He jerked back. It couldn't be! – Yet, it was. No ghosts could exist in the Shadow World thanks to the dark magic protecting it. So…_   
_ The hyena suddenly detected slight, labored movement a few yards from him, bolting over to the wheezing animal with gleaming green eyes. Windy._   
_ The ruby fox was sprawled out over low, flattened boulders stained with his blood, Windy's fur matted with gore. He painfully turned his head to face Poison, and those energetic, mysterious jade eyes still retained their fire as he gazed at him. Inspecting him quickly, the hyena saw his hind legs and his right side was mauled, his legs shattered and probably lame. Swiftly, he jerked his head away. Windy whined as he strained to sit up, but soon collapsed from the intensity of his endeavor. Windy had been supposedly killed by an irrepressible, devastating kick from Sprint during the final race. Windy could of won, but instead had been *killed*. And now, he probably would never walk again. But he was alive._   
_ The fox gazed up at him and said, "Hey Poison, what's up?"_   
_ Poison turned to Windy with grim but grinning eyes. "Windy, I'm not Poison. My name is Revenge, and that's what I intend to get!"_

Revenge felt renewed vengeance surging potently through his body, immersing him in a rage that could have shredded a Rhydon. Snarling and baring his teeth, he lunged. The human yelped in fright, and strained to get out of the path of the attacking demon. But his attempts fell dead.   
Snarling and snapping, the hyena stood over the human, glaring at him with gleaming, devilish red, green, and gold eyes. Rabid with hate, the hyena bared fangs, jaws trembling with fury, which were drooling and gruesome. The Fire Opal was glinting brightly into Ash's eyes, blinding him temporarily.   
"Any last words?" Revenge asked silkily. Panting, the demon grinned in his wild, savage eyes.   
Ash flinched in disgust, squinting in nausea. He instantly held his breath, but he had to breathe sooner or later so he tried to ignore that awful stench. "Yeah," he said, resisting the urge to puke, "you seriously need a tic tac man!"   
The reaction was instantaneous. A trio of slashing scythed claws dug fiercely into his side and chest, shredding parts of his black shirt to reveal crimson. Revenge snarled and barked and screamed, ready to tear Ash to pieces in blind, infuriated rage, snapping his jaws forward. A scream from his victim announced victory as two fangs slashed a gash down his temple and cheek. Lavishly licking his teeth painted with fresh, hot blood for a moment, Revenge enjoyed the pleasure it brought, almost addicted to gore and killing.   
Dazed, Ash felt his own death ravenously clawing at his body and face. The hyena had struck with the intensity of a lightning bolt; one moment, nothing, the next, he was inching toward death. Like some Rhydon that had gone to far with a rage attack, it kept slashing, biting, snarling, drawing blood, it kept killing. The demon's claws were hot stabs of pain kept burning for what seemed an eternity before subsiding. But hell started up again instantly as another, sharp and fresh gash dug itself into his flesh.   
But suddenly, the hyena paused after landing a powerful bite on his right temple and savagely slicing it down his cheek, sending hell into his mind and body. At first, the pain was dulled by the other punishment, but flared, and he began to fade. His glazed, dulled eyes weakly focused on the massive, rabid demon, realizing he was licking his teeth, lavishing the taste of his blood, and he was jolted back a bit with a wave of repulsion. Ash, surprisingly, decided that his fate was this. Revenge would turn back to him, preparing the final assault. Then he'd lunge forward and his jaws would find his throat, and black would ensue.   
He had never given in to anything in his life, but for once, he surrendered. Ash was too weak to attack, and didn't really want to… The pain would end as did his life, and he would have peace. So as the hyena returned to the dying human, eyes aflame with impending retaliation, and lunged to inflict the final bite, Ash sealed his eyes and looked back on his memories one last time.   
His mom, baking cookies, and playing with him; Gary and him pushing each other off the dock and laughing; feeling Pikachu perch on his shoulder, nuzzling his cheek; having the time of his life with Misty and Brock; and one vague, faded image of his father, smiling as he handed Ash his first Poke Ball and smiled ruefully and ruffled his hair, then turned and left.   
Revenge was inches away from his victim's throat he could see was pulsing with hot blood that must be spilt. He noticed that Ash had submitted and lay, bleeding all over, with his eyes shut, and a grin curled up his face. Suddenly, he could detect skin touching his fangs, and he tensed to dig in, then –   
A deafening roar blasted through the dark void, echoed by a terrified yelp. Instantly, Ash jerked his eyes open, and was nearly blinded by the attack he was witnessing.   
Defiantly standing, the black wolf was gritting his teeth and baring the pain as he formed a legendary attack. The canine started to glow an eerie, misty gray, and he braced his legs as a white spark from its aura was raised before him. The emanation flickered and danced like a flame, twisting and whirling as it formed into a vague shape of a gem.   
Vision raised his bloodied head; his midnight eyes suddenly a blank, gruesome white. Dead, devoid, and demonic. They seemed to pierce straight through you, as if you had already fallen victim to him and he was searching for another. Revenge, who had been knocked over by a blast of lightning, staggered halfway up, glanced at his rival, and froze in shock. Damn, he hissed silently. Not now! Why did didn't he die ever?   
The wolf levitated the white flame, which flickered in a brilliant flash of light tentatively, and its blank eyes attained a black tint. Vision began a long, haunting howl, and the final piece was placed as the white fire formed a glowing white stone that was fastened to his forehead. Vision stopped howling, slowly turned to face the demon, and his eyes glowed red once before the shadows lit up in a blinding white light. And the whole time, the wolf never stopped smirking. 

Vision died, and was reborn. A ghost that had lurked seemed to rise from the confinement of the Moonstone, his Daemon stone. The misty white gem was the chain that restrained the evil, potent power of Vision. Light melded with dark. Death and life intertwined.   
Hot, raging anger bubbled up in his throat like acid, and the wolf began to change. Brilliant white sparks teased at the Moonstone, erasing the ominous midnight blue eyes of the Daemon. Slowly, he could feel the wild fury awakening, causing his glossy black fur to gradually lengthen, fading to a stormy gray as if his body was a twilight sky. A ripple of savage power that he rarely used surged up in his body, causing his body itself to glow in ominous silver light, making Vision appear as if he was evolving.   
And in a way, he was.   
Vision fell away from the new power emerging from him, weak and dazed from the draining spell he had preformed, releasing his evil. Releasing death itself.   
Blinking once, he captured a glance of a white devil aggressively shaking and whirling in the light beside him. Silky white fur. Scythed claws. Swift, lanky legs tensing with speed. And, finally, the final touch. Twin, glinting red eyes aflame, ready to kill.   
Fear. 

Time slowed. Danger thickly swirled in the Shadow Void between the worlds.   
The blinding light emitted from Vision's division faded gradually, like twilight melding into dusk. Silence was shattered by two haunting howls that twisted from the fading light, as the shell-shocked creatures gazed on in shock.   
Two sets of paws emerged from the white, one a midnight black and the other a snowy white. Four eyes pierced through the smoke, alive with fire. Vision and Fear. One the Daemon of prophet power, and the other, the devil's reincarnation.   
Fear nearly identical to the black wolf. The same height, the same piercing eyes that stared straight through you, and the same aura of mystery and intensity. The white wolf had a jagged streak of black fur on his withers that drifted to the middle of his powerful legs. A shadowy blotch of dark gray between its dangerous red eyes gave it a majestic but deadly look that would of shaken an Onix. The canine flowed with the grace of liquid metal, and had the cold intelligence of a killer. Confidently striding beside the Daemon of Vision, the Devil of Vision maintained a vicious look as it clearly prepared to attack Revenge, who was now stumbling weakly to his feet.   
Crouching down, long, lashing tail flicking, he started to glow, then blurred into a vague, misty silhouette as the beginnings of its Sneak Attack formed. As Revenge finally recovered himself and was steadied on his feet, he realized how long he had before that devil hit.   
None.   
Pain burned like battery acid in the demon's throat as he was violently smashed back by a comet of ghostly white fury that barely grazed him but still sent him ten yards in to the shadows. Skidding against the "floor" of the void suddenly spiked a jab of pain into his side, revealing a gash slashed halfway down his side. Revenge yelped shrilly, limply laying in shock, waiting for another attack. He could feel blood trickling down his neck, leaking from two slices clearly drawn by fangs, and he could feel laughter bubbling up in his throat. The bloodied hyena restrained his laughter. Not now. Too soon. It would give his secret weapon away if he so much as chuckled. Despite the brilliance of his plan, he knew that he could have never anticipated Vision dividing, and that things had already started to go wrong. Too many things. Vision appearing so suddenly, the human actually surviving longer than a minute, and Fear.   
Revenge smiled.   
He would finally kill that Daemon and he would have vengeance, even if Sprint died. He would finally be superior, on top.   
And it would be their blood this time. Not his.   
  
Fear gathered dark particles from the Shadow Void, causing the wolf's white fur to bristle with energy. Grinning, the demon spat out at Revenge, "Night night," and gathered the power into a focused glow that enveloped his body in darkness. He could feel the deadly power that had been dead for so many years jerk to life, slowly warming, as he could feel the prophetic power of Vision rise again. It surged through his veins like fire, making Fear tingle with elation as he regained his senses; the vivid, striking scent of blood lulling at his nose. He loved that sensation of blood, the thrill of the hunt, the screams of prey, and the memories of before when he and Vision had divided sparked a thirst for his old hobbies. Before, he had been just a ghost trapped in that Daemon stone, seeing nothing but blackness and hearing silence while you knew their was so much to see, so much to hear, so much to kill.   
The white wolf glanced around with energetic eyes, searching for prey, and sniffing. His red eyes pierced through the dim battle area, focusing on the injured human. He could see the human staggering to his knees, balancing himself with shaky arms until he recovered his equilibrium, and his right hand was tightly clutched to his mauled, bloody side as a few crimson streams flowed over his already dark red fingers.   
Fear pried deeper into his mind with his potent psychic abilities the power of Vision was based on, searching for info. Something about this thrashed creature made him wary, knowing that he was definitely a major element of the prophecy. Suddenly, as his psychic powers finally broke the mental barrier, memories and information flooded his mind. Ash Ketchum. Ten years old. Striving to be a Pokemon Master. And……… Vision. Fear jerked back almost in shock, realizing that his prey he had been hunting almost was the human Daemon of Vision. So, he had to find different blood.   
And flickering his eyes toward the hyena, the venomous white wolf grinned then pounced, eyes blazing and body glowing as his Rage attack was completed.   
Beside the demon, the black wolf was barely keeping conscious. Performing such a high power spell had drained the critical energy that had been keeping him afloat. Each ragged breath sent him swooning further and further into darkness. Vision staggered dangerously, finally finding his balance before he glanced up. Despite the haze clouding his eyes, he could see the white demon forming an attack and lunging forward. He knew that releasing Fear was dangerous, but not as dangerous as facing Revenge alone. Fear had been traitorous before, but that was a risk he had to take.   
Vision couldn't maintain this. He began to tip. His paws scraped at the ground, but gripped nothing, and he felt his body loosen in exhaustion, almost limp. Time seemed to thicken and decelerate, but he fell nonetheless. 

After slamming into the hyena, Fear jerked back from the impact, agilely springing off his side and landing again, hardly a hair misplaced. He was an acrobat of death, swift, smart, deadly, and lithe. His claws were dipped in red, making it appear as if he had nail polish, but anyone could see that blood wasn't a good polish. The white wolf ignored the collapsing of his twin and quickly put in motion a strategy. Panting laboriously, the hyena lay still on his side, recovering from the blow. A long slash inflicted from his claws was gored into his side, the bleeding slowly decreasing. But in the tangle of bloody fur, he saw the defiant red, green, and yellow eyes smiling. The wolf began to lope causally around Revenge, studying him carefully.   
He expected nothing from the injured hyena, so when the furious blaze of pain tackled him and threw him to the ground violently, Fear was shocked. But instantly, he was back on his feet, dodging another whitish-gold streak of speed and lightning. A crackling knife of electricity singed his fur as it grazed his heels, sending him tumbling again. The demon/Daemon yelped in shock. Never before had he ever been knocked down twice without launching an attack. And without noticing the attacker at all? – That seemed impossible, but denial was stupid. Fear had to face it. He was slipping.   
Glancing up, the wolf flinched in shock. A Raichu? A Raichu had defeated him??!   
Yet, there it was. A golden, sleek Pokemon with long, frilly ears and ominous white eyes that challenged him stood before him on four legs. It had a long, snaking tail and short and dagger-like claws extending from its hind paws, giving it the impression of a killer teddy bear. The Raichu must have been hiding in the shadows and just attacked, and by the way Revenge's eyes were smiling, he knew that it had been a trap.   
Fear staggered up with less energy than he expected to have. Puzzled, he glanced down to check for wounds. Another jolt of amazement was added as he spotted a long burn on his flank, which was shadowed by a long slash. It must have used it tail to injure him. But now that he could see how dangerous this nearly cute creature could be, that would be the last attack it landed.   
He snapped savagely, and the white wolf suddenly dissipated, as if smoke in a breeze. A trace of silver dust was drifting in the air, just to prove that Fear had been there, but the demon was vanished completely.   
Sparky glanced around for his opponent. Shivering in apprehension, the Pokemon nervously sparked at his dark cheeks, his long, whip like tail teasing the air. It was silent around him. His opponent had disappeared into thin air. This could not be good. Apparently, this was a tougher assignment then Revenge had let on. That scheming bitch! He had said it was a piece of cake! More like piece of poison cake… That fool was just to chicken to take on Vision himself! Speaking of Revenge, he glanced around again to spot that trickster. But instead of finding the hyena, the agile mouse found himself staring straight into fury.   
Fear smashed directly into his target, blurring into an agile Mega Kick as he was released from his teleportation attack and jumped back to attack again.   
Caught totally off-guard, the Pokemon Renegade leader was bloodied and knocked down, but he refused to give up. Quickly, the Golden Raichu leaped back up, gritting his teeth and straining from the intensity of the battle. This wolf was strong. Stronger than he could predict.   
The wolf's fur bristled into a jagged coat of spines, and he snarled. He lunged forward, quickly found the ground, pivoted, and swung his legs over like a bat. But Sparky easily evaded that attack and smirked, waiting, as if he was waiting to mock him by dodging him again. As graceful as silk, the white wolf's body melded to his will like clay and he was able to position it for a flip. He faced Sparky, planted his feet, coiled his muscles, then leaped backward in a backwards summersault, slashing his clawed paws up in an uppercut "punch."   
One word could of described the next moment in time.   
Chaos.   
Sparky was sent tumbling backwards in a furious serious of twists and rolls, releasing a pained "Cha…" as he drew to a stop, exhausted. But stubbornness and determination gave him the energy to stand back up, and he brushed the lock of wild fur from his eyes. A certain fire that hadn't been there before blazed in the Pokemon's eyes. Anger burned for vengeance in his throat, like a knife of fury. The Raichu turned his gaze toward Fear.   
Fear returned the glare.   
The battle began. 

  
  
  
***Author's Notes***   
  
Okay, okay, so I lied. But I couldn't help it. I was starving for ideas and revealing who the character was in ch. 1 seemed like a good idea. Next chapter, I hope to get to what I thought I would in this chapter, but as usual, I got off track. I planned to have the battle a lot shorter and never thought of including Fear just yet, and would of gotten a lot farther in the story. But, oh well. It took such a long time cause I write kinda slow, and with school, homework, writer's block, and forgetting time to time to write. Sorry.   
Next chapter, the rest of the human Daemons come to life, and Sparky vs. Fear. 

Chustang   
  
  



	3. Cruel Destiny

Dusk   
By Chustang   
* * * * * 

Chapter 3   
"Cruel Destiny" 

  
  
  


Rain cascaded from the sky, a sheet of cold, forbidding fury that swept the land and hissed in a gale. The individual raindrops bombed the ground, as hard and forceful as bullets, slamming into the dirt, indenting, with a thud. Slowly eroding the thick-with-vegetation path down only a faint strip of dirt, erasing the minute, doglike paw prints of Bulbasaurs and Venusaurs, it fell unremittingly. The forgotten trail led from the bustling clamor and stress of Celadon city into the dark, shadowy forest edging the human cities. And in the gloomy darkness, the crunching of delicate leaves beneath Pokemon paws was a constant reminder of the war now raging. Eyes gleaming through the dark danced in the forest as the Renegade sentries paced warily. Something had agitated them. Despite their acute sixth sense, the Umbreon sentries felt a wave of apprehension but couldn't identify the source of their tension.   
Ghost, the scarred lieutenant Umbreon, gazed out across the dusky landscape thick with ominous pressure. The air itself seemed to hang low over the earth, thick and icy, and a sharp prick of psychic energy sparked in her brain. She had more experience and was more attuned to the complex net of telepathic pulses, so the wind howling and the psychic vibes had meaning to her where it was only a sound, a feeling to others. Her black, sleek ears were flattened against her neck, her shadowy black fur prickling, and Ghost began to understand. The landscape that rolled out before the Evil-type Pokemon was scattered with saplings and a dark green in the growing night, ten miles of wilderness separating Celadon and Twilight Forest. Suddenly, the rain stopped; a sign.   
But there wasn't silence. The anxious, edgy whines and soft yips of her young comrades drifted through the black. They had no idea what was coming. But suddenly, their whines stopped.   
One of the highly ranked sentries favored slightly by Ghost, galloped up, his amber eyes tense and confused but still attentive. Wildfire was his name, and for a good reason. Years back, when he had been an egg, his nest was ignited by a wildfire, and miraculously, he had survived. From that day on, he had been the only Umbreon to take on Fire traits. "Lieutenant…" Ghost suddenly noticed his panting, and focused on him. He raised his head, still exhausted. There was a tint of grim terror in his eyes that told her that her prediction was correct. "All the sentries are dead. They just dropped dead, like they had been shot or something." His eyes were pleading and anguished. "What's happening?"   
Ghost turned abruptly, tearing her gaze from him. Her range of vision settled on the midnight black sky scattered with stars, sighing. "The Prophecy has started."   
Wildfire gazed at her with pained, fading eyes, suddenly stumbled to his knees, and stared at the ground with blank eyes. His breaths came in labored gusts, and the young Umbreon soon collapsed. Dead.   
Ghost looked on with anguished eyes, and she couldn't deny it. She would soon follow her comrade into the black unknown, and perhaps even find him. Already she felt herself fading, and her vision blurred severely, reducing the dark world into pitch black.   
And she fell dead as the world suddenly became very very silent.   
  
But suddenly, the world was nothing but a deafening roar of explosive red energy streaming upward. The Fire just appeared from nowhere, and blasted skyward in a mushroom cloud, like an atomic bomb, condensing into an ominous black cloud. It thickened, swirling furiously in a tight circle, then imploded. 

_ She could see those puppy eyes crying, over and over in her mind. They wrenched at her soul, glittering with tears. Her beautiful blue eyes. The creamy, dark aqua eyes of the dainty Eevee that had saved her life, but in the end, watched her die._   
_ Highlighted against the stormy sky painted with an ominous tint of dark purple, drenched in the cold rain, stood her Eevee, Sugar. Her long, tattered ears were plastered to her cheeks, the ruffs of white fur around her neck drenched and flat against her tan fur. Tears trickled down her face and stung her master's skin as the Eevee laid down with her delicate paws resting on her chest, gazing dejectedly at her dying master. Gently pushing with her paws, Sugar desperately called to her fading master in a high voice, her sobs blurring her speech. "Eee… Eee." The human who had been hit by a beam of purple energy that had come out of no where comforted her distressed Pokemon by weakly caressing its cheek, and the tiny, tan fox like creature nuzzled her fingers in response._   
_ And when the human's pale, weak hand gradually grew limp against the Eevee's cheek, it yelped desperately, screaming for Aurora to wake. "EEVEE!"_   
_ Those haunting, disheartening memories unremittingly played back in Aurora's mind as she drifted in a deep sleep. Lost and detached from conscious thought, the young girl was immersed in eternal blackness, seemingly consumed by the shadows._   
_ And the mourning whimpers of Sugar echoed through her mind, the lost cries of a little child, resounding forever and ever._

_* * * * *_

Aurora woke as the haunting cries of Sugar finally faded, and she began to regain her senses. At first, the world was black and cold, devoid of any sounds, sights, or feelings. Then, after realizing what was happening, jerked open her eyes and bolted up in shock. She was alive! Glancing around with hazy eyes that felt like they hadn't been opened in eons, the lanky eleven year old ignored the dark, icy surroundings and just inhaled the fresh, autumn air. The cool, soothing wind caressed her skin with revitalizing, icy fingers, erasing the feeling of hot clamminess in her body.   
Blinking once to clear her brilliant amber eyes, Aurora finally stopped to investigate her surroundings. Her ponytail fluttered slightly in the wind, and something brushed her back. Yelping in surprise, her whole body tensed, but she focused herself and extended a hand tentatively behind her. But all she discovered was her own auburn hair, grown out a full three feet, extending down to her butt. Twisting and holding her hair to get a better look at it, it registered just what that meant. She must have been asleep for… years! But then where was…   
Sugar!!   
Frantically, she lashed her head around, desperately searching for her precious Eevee. Aurora was in the center of a small meadow thickly vegetated with tall, golden colored grasses and saplings. Looming, ominous trees edged the clearing, rustling in a non-existent breeze, hissing like as if they were laughing at you. There was a rustling coat of gold, red, yellow, and orange leaves on the ground. But there was no smiling, cute little Eevee to greet her.   
So she lunged forward, scraping at the leaves and brushing them hastily aside, searching for her beloved friend and pet.   
Leaves flew in a tornado as Aurora flung them out of the way. "Sugar!" she shrieked, terrified. "Sugar!" She rapidly crawled forward on her hands and knees, searching for the tiniest sign of her favorite Pokemon, calling and shrieking for the single thing she knew deep down, would never answer.   
Ever.   
Fingers flying and whirling, she kept on searching and searching hopelessly, and tears began to froth, hot and burning, around her anguished gold-yellow eyes. Leaves, brittle and dry from the spell of autumn, brushed against her fingers, and nothing else. Sobs began to crack her voice, and her calls faded to pleading whispers. "No…. Sugar… my baby…"   
Tears glistened in the faint light emitting through the thick storm clouds coating the sky, and she sat down limply, the stray strands of hair hanging over her temple wet from crying. Her precious Sugar was gone. Her baby, her champion. The Eevee who had won Best in Show, two Pokemon Championships, and won her heart, was gone. A vacant crack formed in her heart, and she finally accepted the cruel fact that she would never see those energetic eyes of her best friend.   
Suddenly, her eyes flickered, and she pounded the ground in anger.   
CRACK!   
Aurora instantly recoiled her hand, yelping in pain. A black and blue bruise was quickly developing on her wrist, and a trickle of blood was leaking from a scratch ripped down her palm. Nursing her hand, holding it against her chest and stopping the blood, she gritted her teeth in pain. She had hit something hard and sharp, but vaguely round, and the leaves covering it scattered in a surge of light wind.   
A Poke Ball.   
"No…"   
The orb was split open, revealing the dark metal inside, and rusted heavily. The red dust formed a spiky shell over the outside, and the bright red paint had been chipped off. Shabby and punished, the empty Poke Ball was dented severely, and there was multiple claw and teeth marks disorienting its figure. Ignoring the slight pain sparking in her hand, Aurora nervously inched forward her hand, afraid to touch it. Yet she knew that the ghastly sign of her Eevee's death wasn't a mirage. As she finally came into contact with it, a tear rolled down her cheek.   
Either Sugar had run away, or she was dead. And the mauled Poke Ball suggested a cruel fate.   
A sudden rustle of leaves jerked her back to her senses, alertly scanning the roughly half-mile big meadow. If there was a Pokemon, she knew that she could only hope it wouldn't attack. Who knows how what condition her Pokemon were in after years? Aurora clutched her dark blue jacket tighter to her body, her baby blue shirt unable to reflect the ominous cold wind. And if it was a person… well, she could only hope the neighbors were friendly here, wherever she was. Another faint sound of crunching vegetation guided her attention to a thicket of seven-foot saplings edged with tall grass that was almost as tall. The hushed branches had formed a wall of dark gold leaves, hiding the occupant. She brushed off the dead leaves from her dark denim flare jeans, kicking away the Poke Ball, and standing to face the creature.   
The thicket was a good twenty yards from her, but still she could detect tired moans emitting from deep within the thicket, echoed by a shriek of pain as the creature clearly hit a tree. A sapling furiously shook for an instant, and it gradually stopped. But there were no more sounds from the mysterious thing.   
So, cautiously stepping forward, she decided to call out a Pokemon, despite her uncertainty. Silently, swiftly brushing her fingers over the cold, metallic surface of the Poke Ball, Aurora slid it from her pocket and allowed to spit the red capture energy through a tiny crack, without any sound. The lightning like ruby light flowed out in a jagged beam, forming the vague shape of a spiky, weasel like creature. It defined itself, completing the sleek, compact body of a Quilava. She had a two long body that was supported on stunted legs, jagged tufts of fire erupting from her head and a tail of fire, and hot blooded red eyes. Relieved to see that she was in good shape, Aurora causally scratched behind her minute ears.   
"Arashi," Aurora whispered to her volcano Pokemon, kneeling beside her, "I need to ambush whatever is in that grove over there okay?" She jabbed a finger in its direction, and the curious Quilava gazed at the grove, flicking her ears and intently sniffing with her nose. The jagged fire spikes sparked embers as she detected a smell, and she nuzzled her master's hand, and then zealously bounded forward.   
Amazingly fast and agile, Arashi raced forward in leaps, her tiny paws darting between the delicate leaves, silent. Crushing a single leaf would give away the tracking Pokemon, so she smartly dived into the clear areas. Arashi soon covered the twenty yards, her fire spikes bristling in anticipation, as she crawled the last two feet toward the grove of trees. They had grown in a tight circle, with hardly any space between the slender trunks. But there was a break in the roughly two yard big grove, which was covered by a blanket of ivy and vines.   
Forming a barrage of flames, she tensed for the attack, and lunged into the trees, spitting fire.   
Aurora watched keenly, slowly approaching as her prized Fire Pokemon leaped aggressively into the trees. An icy wind whipped up, lashing her hair and clothes, predicting a storm. Clutching her arms to her body, trying to warm up, the youth edgily anticipated Arashi's reaction.   
The answer came in a yelp of surprise, ensued by a spark of fire and the crunching of leaves as the Pokemon swiftly leapt out, staring at the grove. Her eyes were wide and stunned, her mouth agape in a pant from an adrenaline rush. Her flames were animatedly flickering and sparking like fireworks, and she quickly summoned her master over with a yip. Scared and excited, the human raced the last three yards, ignoring the loud snapping of leaves beneath her sneakers. Aurora lunged through the ashes of the vines that had concealed the entrance, and gasped. The inside of the grove was as dark as a closed room at midnight, and the dusky light from outside flooded the room.   
And lying there was a kid. 

Light was a mere toy that was tossed about by the dancing flames, the shadows flickering and dancing as the illumination was distorted. Against the eerie, deathly darkness of the forest, the light was consumed and slain as soon as it touched the black. Outside, sparks of lightning ravaged the taller trees, attacking fiercely with the speed of a devil, leaving the blackened projections smoking. A storm caused the clouds to become a flinty black, and thunderclaps ripped the sky to pieces.   
A thunderbolt suddenly struck a nearby tree, and the air was hissing with sparks. They seemed to rain down like glowing marbles, and cascaded over the entrance to the cave, a veil of glittering gold and white. Aurora jerked back, and nearly smashed her head on the rock. The shelter she had stumbled across was four feet high, with a tight 2' 6" entrance. The cave spanned a good ten feet, and had an ominous, dark aura to it. Like you were underneath a bed and you knew that monsters were lurking in the dark, but couldn't hear or see them.   
Bathing in the flickering fire was her Quilava, Arashi, fiery red eyes content and soothed. Laying in the fire and drifting to sleep, the sleek Pokemon welcomed the burning nips and enjoyed it even. Arashi often slept in the glower of a fire, and it amplified her Fire attacks. And, seeing how much she loved to just sit and watch the flames dance and lick the sky lazily, Aurora knew she just needed some relaxation. Arashi's brilliant ruby eyes gradually sealed and she yawned deeply before scratching a pillow of ashes and dozing off. Also curling beside the campfire, lavishing the soothing warmth was the rest of her Pokemon. Sapphire, the mouse Pokemon Azumarill, his floppy blue ears curled around his cheeks and tail bobbing rhythmically; Kimawari, the sleek, lethally beautiful Persian purring as he rested his head in Aurora's lap; Jewel, the baby Tauros with lanky legs and a bare neck, leaning against the rock, with the body of a calf; and Leais, the majestic, mysterious Dragonair that slid restlessly, her ears pricked and icy blue eyes keen.   
The Dragon serpent gazed into the dark depths of a tunnel at the back of the cave. No one dared to explore the passage, but Leais warily kept a strict patrol as she slithered agilely back and forth. Watching, Aurora whispered kindly to her agitated Pokemon, "Leais, girl, is everything alright? You aren't eating any of your favorite food, blueberries."   
She cocked an eye at her master with grim seriousness, her cerulean colored pearls glinting with an ominous light. Then turned swiftly on her sinewy body and curled up to sleep. But her eyes were locked firmly on the shadows. Waiting. Watching.   
Aurora carefully studied her strangely aloof Pokemon. But she turned to watch the storm.   
Across the fire, propped carefully against the wall and covered in her only blanket, was the kid. She had found him unconscious and he hadn't woken up even after a Thunder from Dragonair. He had long, spiky brown hair that matched his sharp eyebrows, and he had a mean air to him, like some bully. Stringed around his neck was a yellow and green ying-yang amulet. His purple, longish t-shirt was drenched from the rain and his face was smudged with dark dirt.   
Aurora returned to staring at the fire, and soon began to slip. Her eyelids drooped heavily, and she drowsily yawned before drifting off by the warm caress of the flames. 

Shadows swirled and thickened, an aura of blackness that enveloped the eternally dark world in an ominous wind. Stormy light emitted from the black clouds, painting ghastly silver over the landscape. And in the eerie light, spirits and demons alike flickered their gleaming eyes to the sky, studying it intensely. Some yielded underneath some unknown force, stumbling to their knees and hastily crawling away. Others sucked in a breath of ice-cold air, lavishing the sheer enthrall it gave them, gazing solidly up. Their fur bristled and those with no fur just shivered violently.   
The Pokemon, scarred and battle-worn, looked up with anxious eyes.   
The Prophecy was alive. 

* * * * *

Long, regal red feathers blurred into a blazing inferno of ferocious strength as they lashed the air in fury. The flames roared with each powerful flap, spitting embers, which were echoed by long screeches of pain. The air around the massive bird glowed with a fiery red tint, its sleek body slashed badly across its chest. The Moltres twisted away from its opponent that had landed five successful attacks, bloodied and weakening from ruthless assault.   
Snarling in victory, the Houndoom flashed an arsenal of long, flaming fangs and slashed again at its victim. The Fire/Evil Dog snapped and lunged, claws black as night.   
But the lethal weapons only caught air as the majestic Firebird regained its senses and gave one powerful stroke of its flaming wings, which shot it swiftly up. Moltres turned in midair and glared. Screaming in rage, it reared back its head, the tuft of fire flowing around its neck like a cloak, and released a blinding Flamethrower. The gold-white flames whirled straight at the Houndoom with incredible speed, erupting the dark arena with walls tightly bordering it in light.   
Houndoom tensed slightly, planning. Its venomous eyes dripped with malice, as it flicked its tail nonchalantly, as if to say, "And you call yourself the Legendary Bird of Fire?" Raising its tail over its back like a bullwhip and crouching its front close to the ground, it remained silent.   
And the flames hit.   
They cascaded over the dirt like a river, violently slamming into the ground and sending chunks of rock flying as it cut a deep trench until it struck the wall and dissipated.   
Chuckling to itself, the giant bird landed gracefully, the living flames hissing and flowing like silk. It tucked its wings to its body, totally expecting to discover an unconscious or perhaps even dead body after the ash and dust cleared.   
But all it found was an eruption of black and red roaring in its face. The Moltres flinched as the Master Flame hit home, and was sent tumbling over as the dog emerged from the shadows, the bone armor gleaming in the light of the fire. Its lips were curled back in a cruel smile, and its body pulsed with arrogance in every stride. But the Houndoom was not unmarked. A burn had melted its fur from its shoulder, charring the skin a dark red, and the fire clearly had hampered its breathing; it wheezed with every breath.   
Watching from a Barrier-protected corner, sat one of the higher commanders in the Revolt. The dark Nidorino's spikes bristled in excitement, and his glittering jade eyes were enthralled from the battle. It was violent training, but utterly critical if the Pokemon Renegades wanted to win the war they raged against two enemies. With intelligent, deducing eyes, he watched the two dedicated Renegades fight for the title of West Division Captain, a chance to lead battle against the humans.   
Besides, he liked watching battles.   
Suddenly, a small screen appeared on the wall inside the barrier, and the Nidorino instantly focused on the grim figure staring at him, turning. A Charmeleon glared back, with severe eyes, and whipped out a startling report. "Sir," it announced, raising a claw in solute, "All contact with the Celadon Umbreon sentries have ceased. They haven't answered our calls. They're supposedly dead."   
Unflinchingly, the Pokemon as hardened and indifferent as ice, Nidorino stared back, his mind furiously racing. Dead? The Celadon Umbreons? But how…   
"Sergeant, this is the day." Nidorino's eyes were cold. "The Prophecy has been put in motion. We must dispose of all the Daemons before they have a chance to focus their powers.   
"Send Freeze."   
The Charmeleon jerked back in surprise. Nidorino was known for his ruthlessness, but this surpassed his reputation. Regaining its composure, the lizard Pokemon nodded and the screen blanked out.   
Nidorino grinned, then continued to watch the battle.   
  
But far away, a very different battle was raging.   
Sparky's Agility whirled him into a streak of glittering white and gold sparks, a devil of speed to rival Sprint. His long, sharp tipped tail was scolding the wolf as the Pokemon dodged another lunge easily, the Raichu's fiery, arrogant eyes laughing. But his arrogance was costly. During Sparky's pause, Fear had regained his feet, a lightning blur, and leaped again. Fear's long white fur lashed fiercely in Sparky's eyes, causing him to yield, and a flying tackle sent him tumbling.   
Lethal, whitish volts erupted from the Pokemon Renegade's cheeks as he rolled, and the Raichu emitted a shrill screech of anger. Sparky gathered the sparks into a white bolt, leapt back up, and lunged, spitting thunder. Brilliant white light flashed in the Shadow Void, and the scream of the Raichu echoed, triumphant, as it died and revealed a bloodied white wolf knocked over. Gore matted his snowy fur, a long, dark red gash slashed into his cheek and down to his withers, but the flame roaring in those red eyes was immortal.   
Fear snapped one last time.   
"Enough games!" he hissed. His venomous red eyes glittered white.   
"Nova!"   
It became quiet.   
Sparky gulped.   
Fear's long white fur bristled like daggers, glowing. A breeze whipped through it, hardly misplacing a hair on the wolf, but knocked the Raichu over. An ominous crack of thunder roared in the Shadow void, splitting the blackness. Fear's glinting red eyes were aflame with hot blood lust and arrogance, a hell. The wolf raised its silvery voice to the sky one last time, and the dark sky answered.   
Everything seemed to shudder before it erupted. A bolt of white light shot at Sparky, faster than light could ever be, and then exploded. One moment, the Thunder Renegade was straining in hot, stinging pain and black and the next, the world bristled with color. Like an exploding star, a rainbow of brilliant hues painted the blackness. Sparky reeled in shock. The intensity was blinding, nothing but a labyrinth of light that screamed in his mind like a thousand banshees. Pain pulsed in his veins, as relentless as toxin.   
A malicious, lethal smile crept up the canine's lips, and Fear flicked his tail nonchalantly before taking a step forward, leaning forward on his leg, and forming the final blast to finish the attack. Flickering into existence, an orb covered with swirling, twisting rainbow clouds roughly the size of a baseball was created under his paw, surrounded in luminous white dust. It sparked and hissed, and glowed.   
"Game, set, match."   
Fear tensed and was caught just as he was going to launch by a searing jolt of pain and knocked over violently, the Nova attack dissolving instantly as his focus was crushed. Black reclaimed its space again, and the furious wolf growled heatedly, looking up with deadly red eyes.   
A wave of dread sickened him to his stomach.   
Because, standing there with sparks dancing around his outstretched arm, was a ghost. His barely-shoulder-length, spiky black hair was lost in the Shadows, and glared intensely at the wolf with fiery hazel eyes. Dressed in worn, torn jeans and a dark blue tank and ivory white vest, he stood ten yards off and raised a hand clutching a jagged knife of electricity. With a mysterious arrogance and swagger, he hissed, "Sparky, git! I have no time for this!"   
Narrowing his golden eyes at the wolf in a fading challenge, the Raichu agilely spun and darted away into the shadows.   
The man, who wasn't more than 26, gazed at the white wolf with hot suspicion.   
Fear nervously yielded under the look, glancing around, and then suddenly leaped off in the vague direction of the Pokemon, racing for traitorous freedom. His paws frantically scraped for traction. A grin curled back the guy's lips in a smirk as he whipped out a glistening white Moonstone from his pocket. "Too bad," he mocked, casually pitching the gem at the retreating, ghostly form of the wolf.   
A devil of hate and anger, the white wolf screeched furiously, eyes wild and rabid, as the Moonstone solidly hit his front heels, stealing his balancing. Thrashing and yelping, Fear's beautiful white fur was charred around his heels and the wolf squealed. Because the white gem began to fade, absorbing him as well. He suddenly became as insubstantial as air, a living ghost, and a potent force yanked him in, enclosing him in the prison of infinite dark. Like a wisp of smoke in a storm, the wolf howled desperately, straining away, before the stone dropped to the ground, and he was gone.   
An echo caressed the dark with venomous hate, one last silvery howl.   
The unknown person lifted a hand, and the white stone teleported into his palm. Casually, he dropped in his pocket, smiling. He brushed back his wild black hair, a certain childlike quality to his smiling dark brown eyes. But as soon as his eyes fell on the bloodied black wolf, an angry fire and wave of pity both clutched his face. He trotted over to Vision's side, soothingly scratching the wolf behind the ears, brushing back his silky black fur. "Hey buddy. You okay?" he asked.   
A minute, tired twitch of the canine's tail was the only answer, and it slowly grew into a steady wag. With hazy but bright blue eyes, the dog sorely rose to a sitting position, excitedly licking the face of his previous master. Yelping and whining, Vision thumped the ground with his tail and his tongue lolled.   
Laughing and affectionately ruffling the wolf's fur, the man said to him, "Still the top Daemon huh? So who's my replacement?"   
Vision barked softly, flicking his ears. He turned his head back, and limped off a few feet into the dark.   
Confused, he watched with curious eyes.   
The wolf crouched in the darkness, almost out of sight, and worriedly gazed at the unconscious kid, licking his bloody cheek to awaken him. Placing a paw on his chest, Vision whined. Suddenly, the guy detected an anguished moan along with movement in the darkness. Although he couldn't see, he knew…   
Vision licked Ash's cheek, yelping and nuzzling him, and he leaned heavily against the wolf. Dizzy from loss of blood, he kept swooning in and out of black and pain relentlessly. It pounded his brain in harshly, like a horrible nightmare. Gentle, warm licks from the wolf were the single thing that didn't hurt. Ash stroked Vision back, the black canine almost like a dog, yipping and gazing up with loving puppy eyes. Although he had no idea where he had come from, it seemed like he had known Vision for his whole life. As he continued to lay in his lap loyally, dark, misty dreams and visions flooded his mind. They were of anything, and everything. A thousand voices, infinite smiles and screams, a never-ending whirl of languages and light. Colors and feelings, life and death, heaven and hell.   
As they faded, he collapsed in a furious daze against the black wolf, panting. Everything he had known seemed to erupt, fissuring his mind in half and scattering the fragments in the wind, and spin. Pain ravaged his body, while healing at the same time. Everything spun. Everything snapped at him in hate and rage, everything. Confusion and turmoil fumed in his brain. Too much! Ash just wanted to die, from the pain and chaos of information.   
But as suddenly as it had begun, the images and emotions vanished like a dream, to far away to touch, but always there. And Ash could see again, but further. As he looked back at Vision, he saw a soul; he knew the wolf's name. Star. But he could see farther. He could touch his memories like a book, open them, and lose himself in them. They all were there the entire time, but he had been blind until now. Everything had new meaning; everything teemed with light and life.   
And when the man walked up, he knew instantly.   
Gazing into those eyes so much like his, a shock ripped through his body.   
"Dad?"   
The man was just as stunned. His smiling eyes were blank with shock and disbelieving. Frozen, his lips formed the name of something he had long since lost.   
And blackness once again found Ash. 

"Ash! Wake up! Please Ash, say something!" Misty shrieked at the cold, bloody body of her best friend. Yet her anguished screams fell upon deaf ears and he remained as she had found him, lying on his back and limp. His trusty red-and-white cap was mauled and shredded, and his clothes were bloody and ripped. She had awoken and found him lying beside, not asleep, but not dead either.   
Misty herself was a wreck. Her orange-blonde hair reached down past her butt, and her clothes were darkened from dirt and rain, totally in disarray. Her face was lost in smudges of mud and wet from tears that foamed around her eyes. "Ash! Come on Ash! Wake up right now!" she screamed, her patience evaporating and desolation mounting in defeat. She lost herself in rage and took one last deep breath, trying to stop herself. Yet, as she saw him, lifeless but somehow not dead, it crumbled like a wet cookie.   
So unable to stop herself, Misty raised her mallet sharply and swung across his face.   
The reaction was instantaneous. A pained scream escaped from his bashed in mouth, spitting out a tooth, and was sent tumbling a few yards. Ash clutched his cheek throbbing in pain, eyes glassy but still fiery and angry. He extended his arm to stop himself and gritted his teeth in the pain it inflicted. Wheezing from the throbbing, he angrily steadied himself and sat up, and said, "Misty! What was that for?!" His emotional brown eyes were sparking fire.   
Dumbstruck, she mutely lipped in shock, heart thundering. She limply collapsed to her knees, surprised but stunned with relief. She had thought he was dead. And now, had probably cracked his skull. Despite all that, her heart soared with gratitude, and she lunged forward and hugged him as tight as she could. "Never do that again!" she snapped with tears in her eyes, still locked in a hug. Ash on the other hand, was shocked. Misty was going crazy! But he sort of liked it…   
Misty was fully enjoying it. The warmth from her body drifted into his cold, bloodied skin and she could feel multiple slashes and fang marks down his sides and arms. She curiously stroked her hand down side and jerked back instantly, feeling cold skin where his black shirt had been sliced severely and deep, nearly fresh slashes. A bit pitying, she flickered her gaze back up, locking looks. Ash was surprised and a bit shook, and Misty recoiled from their embrace instantly, deeply embarrassed.   
He quickly brushed off some dried blood from his shirt and pulled the tattered edges to hide his bare flesh, a flush of red betraying him. Ash changed the subjected hurriedly, asking, "What happened?" He turned to look around.   
"What happened to you?" Misty sparked back with her usually rivalry. "I don't suppose those slashes just got there by magic. Man, you can never be responsible."   
Ash whipped his head back, discovering Misty innocently glancing around. "Hey," he hissed angrily, "You aren't the most mature either, smashing people around with mallets and insulting them! You could at least nag when I'm not listening!"   
Blue eyes burning with unholy rage, the touchy redhead leapt up, furiously countering with an insult. "Well Mr. Hotshot, how many times have you come whining to me for help, huh? And what about my bike, huh??! You never ever repaid me for that stupid thing!" She stomped up to her full height, towering over Ash with angry fire blazing in her azure eyes. But he quickly countered and stood up as well, and the two prone-to-bickering best friends once again furiously glared at each other, growling and gritting teeth. Although Misty had been taller, Ash had evidently grown and now found himself a half an inch taller.   
Only when Misty realized, did the furious stare down, which Ash had been winning, cease. Staggering back as if he had suddenly become a goblin, she nervously asked, eyes wide, "How did you know what I was thinking?"   
"You said it out loud, duh!"   
"No I didn't."   
That stopped him cold in his rage. A bit unnerved, he stared back. "About me being irresponsible?"   
Misty shook her head.   
It was all too much. Ash slowly eased himself down to the ground, burying his face in his hands, nothing but confusion ruling in his brain. Again, the swirling, throbbing pain returned, and he was lost in the emotions. "Just leave me alone," he moaned through his fingers.   
Concerned, she kneeled down beside him. "Ash, are you okay?"   
"I'm fine."   
"But-"   
"I'm fine."   
Suddenly, her touchy rage returned, frustrated and fed up. Misty angrily spat back, "Fine!" If she hadn't remembered the beating she had given him before, he would have been slapped so hard that Misty's hand would have fallen off. "Be that way! You're a Pokemon Master, so you don't have to care."   
Ash hugged his legs to his chest, burying his face in his arms and remaining silent. Misty suddenly forgot what had just happened and felt her heart wrenching at her chest, realizing he knew the truth.   
Crying into his arms, he asked, "Pikachu's gone, isn't he." The faint, muffled sound of sobs drifted in the ominously cold air, and he made no clear attempt to stop.   
Misty worriedly gazed on, a bitter flush of resent in the wind that ruffled her hair, biting her lip. With a blink, she shed a tear for her missing Togepi, and felt a sheet of guilt fall over her heart. Suddenly, she detected a fleck of rain, cold, on her cheek, looking up. The flinty gray storm clouds rolled and brewed overhead, slowly releasing the storm. A few more raindrops ensued, and a sudden roar of thunder ignited the downpour. As swift as light, a thick barrage of icy rain pounded down on her, instantly drenching her.   
She quickly grabbed Ash and yanked him to his feet, seeing him ignoring the rain, and angrily snapped, "Come on!" A prick of heat in her fingers from his hand and see could again feel that bubbly emotion she denied so much. Ash stumbled to his feet as she looked around for shelter.   
Towering, dark trees hissed in the gale and the drenched and shivering twelve year old clutched her free arm to her chest, trying to reflect the cold. With a shock of fear, she stared deep into the forest around them she had never noticed. The trees were a good fifty feet, howling and dancing in the wind, and they were in a small clearing beside a grassy trail. Fear clutched at her heart, and a flicker of doubt washed over her. Ash yanked his hand from her grasp, staring at her with watery and curious eyes, a limp strand of black hair falling over them. He gazed around also, then quickly dashed over to the nearest tree, pulling Misty along this time. "You come on!"   
Misty's anger flared dangerously at the spark and as Ash yanked her under the tree's sheltering branches, glared angrily. She couldn't control that rage, and when she stopped to think about it, it shamed her. She sighed and miserably squeezed the rain from her hair, turning to sit at the tree. "Great," she moaned, "I'm soaking wet!" Ash had already sat down, and he remained silent, staring almost angrily at the gray sky. He tucked his knees to his chest again, folded his arms around them, and rested his chin on them.   
Overhead, the stormy sky rumbled with the angry growl of a lion, and lightning painted the dark, looming forest with white. Almost like it was upset, angry. A shiver ran down her spine. Misty sat down next to her companion, brushing back her darkened hair. She turned to look at Ash, and when his chestnut eyes met hers, he abruptly jerked his head away.   
"Ash, what's the matter?"   
He continued to stare at the branches they sat under and the ring of cascading water off the pine tree needles, impassive. His hat was tilted slightly downward, shielding his eyes from the occasional raindrop that found its way through the branches. He was taking it hard. "You know perfectly well what's the matter," he replied coldly.   
Misty blinked in surprise at how cruel his answer had been. Despite everything, Ash had never seemed truly angry before this all happened. With a forced, rueful smile, she caringly placed a hand on his shoulder and said softly, "I know you're hurt because of Pikachu, but you can't be like this forever." But she was violently cut off as he angrily threw her hand off, tears frothing at his eyes, and swiftly turned from her words; from the cruel truth she spoke. "Think of Pikachu. He would of wanted you to go on and become a Pokemon Master."   
Ash reflected the cruel words of his twisted destiny, closing his eyes, fighting a surge of pain and swirling dark dreams again. They cackled maliciously at him, laughing in infinite alien voices, yet were so familiar. Everything once again blurred and became a spin of confusion and pain and thoughts and dreams. Clutching his arms to his chest, Ash snapped back, "Shut up, Misty!" His voice cracked. "You don't understand…. " His voice softened, hampered by more impending sobs as he paused, thinking, then decided to reveal the reason for his rage. "Pikachu isn't just gone now, he's really gone. Before, I could always feel him, always knew that he was okay, in my heart. I don't know what it really was, but Pikachu felt like my brother, the best friend I could never find in truly find in anybody else. I mean sure, you and Brock are still my best friends." Ash stared at the ground, restraining more burning tears. "But you don't know what its like. It feels like Pikachu's dead. In my heart."   
Suddenly, an icy wind conquered the hot flares of lighting and the world fell silent as a gravestone. A few frosty nips alerted them of this subtle stillness, and they both gazed up.   
It was snowing.   
And raining.   
Water and Ice.   
Misty gazed confusedly out at the mystifying storm, but Ash instantly leaped to his feet and quickly ran off in the vague direction of the center of the storm, following the subtle voices hissing "Find it… danger… Freeze…" in his mind.   
"Ash!" Misty yelled after him, irritated, but in the end, raced after. As the snow and rain barrage cascaded from the dark sky, a chill ran down her spine eerily and she could help thinking, 'Now what?'   
  
Aurora screamed.   
Pain seared her side violently, knocking her angrily to the ground and throwing her out the cave mouth. The rock collided with her head as she rolled, and was caught by the rain-drenched grass, her vision blurred. Blood trickled down her temple, and she barely mustered the energy to raise herself up. With hazy, glazed blue eyes, she saw her beloved Pokemon violently scattered around her with screams and yelps of pain, and a brilliant flash of icy blue within the cave. In the swirling mist of blue, frosty white beams suddenly slashed the air, and a roaring storm leaped at her, a glowing, majestic sapphire figure.   
Fighting the blackness, Aurora struggled to elude it, but her legs numbly lay limp from the icy blast she had survived. Flashing her eyes up, she saw the vaguely canine creature spit frost around her, which fastened her to the ground, wintry ropes that bit her skin rabidly. And she knew she was trapped.   
The Ice/Water creature lunged furiously, its eyes a white in the azure fury. It tensed in mid leap, opening its jaws to reveal a sparking white Ice Beam forming, and it evilly smirked. It neared, its long, slender legs preparing to land and the first, tentative sparks of ice danced, and the ice beam began to shoot…   
"Arcanine! Fire Barrier!"   
The black striped firedog dived forward at impossible speeds for a normal Arcanine, a wild flare of fire enveloping it as it leaped in front of the girl protectively. The blaze blinded Aurora as the massive Arcanine stood before her, lashing its tail and crouching to take impact. With a snap, it met the blur of watery blue and as the Ice dog screamed in pain from the fiery assault, quickly sent it tumbling back with a Fire Blast.   
Aurora, in shock, stared as the fire aura died down and the Arcanine tiredly staggered, its muscular body shivering from the effort and icy pressing of the rain. It emitted a whine of pain to its master, and she tracked its gaze off to the side. Through the mist rolling over the grass and her hazy vision, she defined a boyish figure standing on the grass with wild hair, holding a Poke Ball. Again, he called. "Ponyta, Agility!"   
With a crack, the orb split to leak jagged white energy, and it formed into the tall, silky shape of an equine, which let out a defiant trill. It swiftly obeyed, flashing away, dancing around the Ice/Water Pokemon.   
The dog had recovered its feet, and Aurora quickly scrambled to her feet and dashed back to space her and the demonic creature. It now lifted its head, and a luscious purple mane cloaked its back, framed by two jagged, rigid ears, snorting wrathfully. Silver mist emitted from its nostrils and it screamed before the long, white ribbons whipped at them. They seemed to materialize around its body, not connected to the body but growing from the violet mane. With the swiftness of a striking cobra, the silvery, sinuous ribbons charged at them.   
The Ponyta and Arcanine quickly split from their side-by-side formation, lunging lithely in different directions. Yet, the whips caught their movement and intelligently swerved to track them. With frost violently flying, they pursued unremittingly as the Fire Pokemon darted out of their violent lashes, snorting and panting in aggression and exertion. Their race and dance of speed whirled over the grass, a torrent of crimson and cobalt. The Ponyta wheeled suddenly, screaming a challenge as it adroitly reared, allowing the ribbon that had been gaining, shoot past, and it flailed its diamond-hard hooves. Hitting the drenched ground and flinging water and frost into the stormy air, its hooves pinned the ribbon to the ground, and the sleek Ponyta neighed haughtily. But the neigh melded into a scream as the silvery, sinuous ribbon wrenched itself free and quickly wrapped itself around the slim body of the Fire horse. The blue dog gritted its teeth and labored to lift the hundred pound horse, and as it managed to raise it ten feet, suddenly snapped forward and angrily slammed the equine into the ground.   
Dew and dirt choked the air as the Pokemon was violently thrown, its body shuddering from impact. As the obstruction cleared, the fire equine was unconscious, its sleek body shivering from the harsh affliction of the rain. Lying on it side, the Ponyta struggled to open its ruby eyes and scarcely succeeded before it collapsed utterly with a moan.   
"Ponyta!" the boy yelled, dark hazel eyes determined. Whipping out a slightly rusted Poke Ball, he clutched it, frustrated, in his hand and the lower section swung open, withdrawing the red energy that Ponyta melted into. He grimly turned his gaze toward the loyal, potent Arcanine, and commanded with a tone of valor, expecting it to be everything he asked, "Its up to you know. Please, don't let me down."   
Its fiery black eyes zealously shining, the dog nodded obediently, the tan tufts of fur rippling with each smooth, liquid stride. It crouched then leaped forward, baring its fangs and roaring a fierce challenge. "Arcanine!" he yelled, "Dig and Burn Spell! Dispatch Ice attacks with rapid fire. Go!" He flung an arm out to empathize, fiery and concentrated.   
Aurora realized that she might be able to help, watching her Pokemon protectively gather around her. She kneeled besides Arashi and stroked her silky fur, nodding. With a slight whine of fear, the Quilava's fire spikes bristled and her ruby eyes wavered tentatively. But she obediently trotted out onto the frosted battlefield, glowing red and gathering fire. Her body shivered in the harsh pounding of the rain, and Aurora knew that despite the element advantage over Ice, Water attacks and the rain would definitely thrash them. So she glanced at Kimawari and the swift, graceful cat leaped, yowling savagely, his thin, glaring black eyes pulsing with wrath. Sapphire waddled forward; his sleek, blue body was slick with his focused Water powers. But she quickly restrained her Dragonair and infant Tauros as they loyally tried to follow. They wildly rebelled against her grip but she roughly snapped, "Jewel! You know you're too young!" The calf like Pokemon stilled his thrashing, innocent eyes wide, and slowly yielded. She turned empathically toward Leais, and an impulse of remorse flickered in her mind. Leais was her best Pokemon, and she had insulted her by holding her back. The Dragonair's mysterious blue eyes were sulking silently, occasionally sparking her a bitter look.   
"Sorry," she said gently, "but Dragons are weak against Ice attacks. That thing is too strong, and could really hurt you." She looked around. "And I don't see any Pokemon Centers around, so I couldn't heal you if it did injure you. Don't you understand?"   
With a sulk, Leais wrenched herself free, the sinewy body sliding over her arm effortlessly, and curled up at her feet, blue eyes devious. Her ears flattened threateningly against her neck. A certain glow emanated from the dragon's body and it chilled Aurora to bone and broke her heart to see her beloved Pokemon so angry. But it was no time to stall.   
There was work to be done.   
The Arcanine's body was nothing but the fury of a monster, as it agilely dodged a blasting Water Gun, soared up and revealed its claws as it neared the ground, then charging into the earth, dirt flying in its wake. Like a lightning bolt, it took only a few moments to do everything, and a low, ominous rumble from the ground that gradually died proved that it had been there. Infuriated, the icy blue dog snapped angrily, its fangs glistening. Whipping its silvery ribbons in aggravation, it flung its head to the storming sky, and the sky shuddered from the sheer savageness of the roar. Lighting sparked and thunder rumbled, and the flashes highlighted the fearsome yet majestic creature against a dark sky.   
Arashi raced forward, agilely dashing from thick, tall grass and scouting with attentive eyes. She was as stealthy as a shadow on the wind, alert, conniving, quiet. The Water/Ice dog glared at her, its body shaking with anger, and lunged like a spear forward. Its mane whipped around its body, and its eyes were flaring dangerously.   
Arashi screamed in panic. She stumbled backwards, tripping over her delicate, minute paws and blasting her cover. Hysterical, the Quilava swiftly turned and ran as fast as her legs would tolerate, shrieking like a siren. But as fast as she pressed, the long legged creature coldly pursued, casually loping. It kicked in the speed and the fire Pokemon ran toward her master, whining and yelping. Once there was a 15 foot gap between them, the canine deftly reared back, a icy blue glow surrounding its paws as it extended them out, and thin stream of Water fused with Ice shot straight at Arashi.   
The blast nicked the Pokemon's heels as she smartly weaved to dodge the icy attack, and was reflected off her fire resistant fur. Arashi quickly ran behind her master, whining for mercy. Shooting in a true flight, the cold blast was redirected at her master.   
"Arashi!" Aurora snapped. "Don't run- aaahh!" With a shrill hum, the attack missed her feet by a breath and she screamed in an ear-shattering tone.   
Suddenly, enclosed in a storm of shrapnel, the lethal Arcanine exploded from the ground, its body a blur. Nothing but savage fury, it slashed a pair of bared fangs as it slammed into the Water/Ice dog belly. With one liquid, perfectly timed twist, Arcanine shot over its opponent, coming apart, and hit it violently with its body and dove down on its back savagely. It spit a veil of fire over its skin, which pulsed with light. The dog screamed. Arcanine roared and tore wildly at its smooth, glittering skin.   
A whine of pure anguish came from the punished dog and its legs crumpled beneath it like paper. Its body hit the ground with a hiss of frost rising about it, and the Arcanine stood, triumphant, over the icy blue monster.   
"Arcanine! Good boy!" the boy shouted to his loyal Pokemon.   
Swift, he bounded over, knocking over his master nearly and zealously licking his face. "Arrrc! Arrc!" the black-and-red Fire Pokemon growled playfully, his tail wagging furiously.   
A smile crept up Aurora's face, and she glanced around to see Sapphire and Kimawari cringing behind her. Apparently, they had fled even before they could attack. "Well well," she said, smirking, "what do we have here? A couple of scaredy cats, huh? I thought you two said you weren't afraid of anything."   
Kimawari laughed nervously, a flush of red dusting his cheeks. Sapphire laughed along with him, his long, drooping ears flopping in the wind.   
Overhead, the flinty storm clouds began to slowly subside in their darkness and thunder. A few, tentative rays of golden light cascaded from the cracks, and Aurora turned to see the boy warily walking over to the body, his Arcanine by his side, releasing a threatening growl at it. They progressed slowly, cautious. The blue dog lay prone and still in the dark shadows of the cloud, its body disoriented slightly from the dark and the blood. Its ethereal, sleek body was scarred and the azure fur was matted. Its head and long, spiky ears were shivering violently and as they came closer, a mere meter away, saw its eyes were wide open in indescribable rage, burning a dangerous red.   
Suddenly, with a cloak of ice and frost swirling around it, the blue dog rose to its feet in the blink of an eye. Snorting rabidly, it spun to face the boy and his Pokemon, its wrath emitting in a blue aura. The kid and Pokemon leapt back, glaring in anticipation as it stumbled.   
The dog fell to its knees, its mane of purple silk glistening with sweat, but its gaze swept powerfully over the dusky landscape, burning with eternal hate as it landed on the boy and her. It stood up defiantly, and it spoke their destiny. 

* * * * *

Its voice chanted with the wind, its voice melded with the wind, a serenade of cold howls and gentle purrs.   
"Humans! I am Freeze, Suicune of the Renegades. I have come on the eternal hate to kill all elements of the Prophecy, for it is nothing but murder. We Renegades have finally stood up against the torment of the spirits and humans." The Suicune angrily lashed its sweet/screeching voice to the stars, eyes flaming with frozen, blue antagonism. "WE ARE EQUAL!" Clouds of mist were foaming from its nostrils as it snorted in rage.   
"Long ago, Pokemon were equal. Humans and Pokemon lived as one, a nation, ever breathing and co-existing. Humans were kind and considerate. The bitter, hating ones were always changed; the thieves and criminals were always defied. Life was as it should be. But that did not last. Cruel masters overcame the just, and a black cloud descended over the Pokemon world. We were whipped, tormented, starved, hated, feared, killed, hunted; we were nothing anymore. So, the survivors formed a band and found a new home far away from human reach, to a place they had never been: The Shadow World. But, even there, were bullied and looked down upon like we were inferior. And they made the biggest mistake of their lives. We were angry, and we were strong.   
"Cringing Pokemon from every cruel hand, every punishment they never deserved came to the Shadow World, and the Renegades were born.   
"We knew the ancient laws, and we had respected them. Yet the humans had not, and we could not see their punishment, we could not see their suffering. So we broke them. We rebelled. The long vanished and forgotten powers did not ignore our uprising, though. The Ghost and Psychic gods were angry with us and set the clock for the Prophecy of Strength, Speed, Stealth, and Vision; A clock that has been ticking until now, counting the time until they think we shall fall. But we will NOT!   
"Strength, Stealth:" it hissed at the boy and Aurora, "This is not the end…"   
The Suicune slowly raised its head to the sky, its violet mane of silky fur flowing in the wind it conjured around itself. Silver ribbons dancing drowsily around, as if trapped by time, it began to glow with a blue and silver haze. Suicune was enveloped in Ice and Water, and its fiercely blazing eyes stared into infinity, glowing with the anger at its kind's persecution. One last northern wind whipped around it, curling the smoke and mist into a tight twister before it vanished. 

* * * * *

Aurora and the boy stood in shock, and their gazes met. The boy stared at her, a lock of brown hair falling over his hazel eyes. He still maintained that air of arrogance, the look of a bully. The Arcanine next to him only stood five feet, and it also had that potent, malicious look in its eyes.   
He stared at her like he knew her from some long faded dream. And Aurora knew that feeling. It was as if she had known him before, but never really spoken to each other.   
Their trance was shattered suddenly, as the Arcanine savagely barked at the forest banking the clearing. His sinewy body pulsed with fierce power, and he crouched before his master protectively. The Firedog's nostrils flared as it detected a smell and tensed.   
Suddenly, two shadows emerged from the forest, running. As they stopped, the dark clouds subsided and allowed light to flood the grass, lighting up the frost. Aurora made them out as two kids, a girl and a boy. Curious, she stared on and was about to yell a hello when a scream of rivalry came from the two boys.   
"YOU!!!! NOT AGAIN!!"   
The boy Aurora had found leaped onto the back of his Arcanine, and he leaped forward. The other boy angrily stood his ground, visibly fuming.   
Aurora ran after, calling back her Pokemon except Leais, which she jumped on and rode over. Leais raced after on her sinuous, serpent body and quickly caught up. Now she could make out their figures more accurately. The girl had long red hair and was wearing a yellow tank and short blue jean shorts that were held up by suspenders. Her blue eyes were bright and intelligent. The boy was slightly taller than her though, although he seemed the same age. His tattered League cap restrained a tangle of black hair, and his brownish-black eyes burned with rivalry as the two boys stared down each other.   
Aurora quickly stepped off her Dragonair and greeted the girl, "Hi! My name's Aurora. What's yours?"   
The girl smiled and replied, "I'm Misty."   
Aurora turned her attention to the two boys, and sarcastically asked, jamming thumb in their direction, "And they are?"   
"Oh… that's Ash and the kid on the Arcanine is Gary." She gave a nervous smile back. "They are… um, how should I put this? - Very stubborn. Ever since they became rivals, they act like they would kill each other if they had a butter knife. Its very annoying."   
"I guess…"   
Ash and Gary soon were standing face-to-face, glaring and spitting fire silently. Their eyes shot insults rabidly, and Ash suddenly jerked his arm forward in a furious punch. And by the time Misty had angrily grabbed his arm to stop him, the punch had connected with its target. Gary was violently knocked to the ground, blood leaking from his nose and a ring of black around his eye. He recovered himself drunkenly, steadying himself with his arms, and brushed his fingers over his punished face. As they felt the damage, a new flame of hate that hadn't been there kindled in his eyes and Gary was on his feet, raising a counter-punch and swinging it forward.   
"Hey, quit it!" Aurora snapped, yanking back Gary's arm. But again, the attempt failed and this time Gary's punch hit Ash squarely in the chest. But instead of being thrown to the ground, Ash and Misty were both sent tumbling back ten feet. Misty screamed in pain and shock, but Ash just winced from the burning pain throbbing in his chest and raised a glaring eye in his rival's direction.   
Gary and Aurora froze in shock. Numb, the prevailing rival stared in pure disbelief at his fist, which seemed to pulse with power. Like it had been a limp stick and just now had yielded its force. He flexed his fingers slowly, letting the newfound power pulse underneath his will, then arrogantly fixed a smile on his face. But besides shock, the girl felt another emotion: Rage.   
"Hey! Knock it off!!" she screamed at the two boys, her eyes pure anger. "Don't you get it?!?! We have no idea where we are, it is very cold and rainy, and we are fighting over what? - NOTHING!" She jabbed an accusing finger in their direction. "We do not have time for foolish bickering. Whatever is with you jerks, get over it! Our lives are in danger. That-that thing, didn't you hear what it said? It said something about a prophecy, and killing it. Think about it! If it attacked us, there's a pretty good chance it wants to kill us too. Now just chill and we'll figure this out after we find a place to spend the night, OKAY???"   
Silence. Nobody dared to breathe, if it would set her off again like a bomb. They numbly nodded their heads.   
"Good. Now get going."   
Aurora turned and made a quick survey of their surroundings, and spotted a gap in the thick tree line, which appeared to be a trail. Spitting a fiery glance back, she asked, "Wellll… "   
"Coming!" Misty immediately answered, not to set her off again. She walked after, giving the two boys a warning look.   
Ash staggered up, rubbing his fist against his cheek, and his eyes burned a challenge silently. Gary countered it with the same, fiery gaze, and turned to follow as well.   
But as he fell behind, Ash knew that their fight was just beginning. 

  
Moonlight soon subjugated the erratic, healing sunbeams and the dark arose to its full height once again, a menacing cloak of inky blue-black over the sky. In the sea of black, the stars were undying beacons, light from dreams winking. Through the branches over head, they seemed to whisper in anticipation.   
Aurora and Misty led bravely through the blackness, and the wary Quilava lighted the path. They huddled close to the Pokemon as it curled up in her master's arms, staring into the night. Ash and Gary, on the other hand, were as far apart as was possible without getting off the trail. Still they were sending glares in each other's direction, but less and less as time went on.   
"Arashi, I don't like this place… its too dark… too quiet…" Aurora whispered with apprehension, pressing the light-and-warmth-giving Pokemon to her chest and stroking her ears. "I don't hear any Pokemon, do you?"   
"Yeah, there's a lot of nocturnal Pokemon, but what would make them disappear like this?" Misty mused.   
From the rear of the group, Gary spoke up softly, his voice wary. "Night Pokemon aren't scared off easily, being mostly the Dark type. I've never heard of a Dark Pokemon running away out of fear, so they must have left on their own, for some reason."   
"All gone…" Ash said sadly, "I wonder what happened. Maybe they're just-"   
"Dead," Gary interrupted coldly. He halted suddenly, and the shock from his unexpected answer turned their heads to where he crouched. Ash suddenly got an icy pulse that lingered in his spine, making him shiver violently, and he saw what lay just before his rival.   
A dead Umbreon.   
Its sleek black body was sprawled out over a pool of blackish blue blood, its fur gory, but it had no obvious wounds. In fact, as Gary carefully inspected it, there was nothing at all, yet the blood kept flowing. Its fierce amber eyes were wide open in horror, and its mouth frozen in a grim look. Gary brushed his hand over its fur, and as a tuft fell away, saw that the skin was charred a smoky black and smelled of charcoal, yet the fur had no sign of fire contact at all.   
Misty gasped in horror, tears foaming around her eyes, and she moaned, "Oh…. Ohh… the poor thing… No…" She buried her face in her hands, and didn't dare look again. Aurora winced at the sight, and then quickly turned away as well, huddling Arashi close to her as she began to cry.   
Ash crouched besides it as well, forgetting about his rivalry. He studied the eyes of the dead Umbreon and gently asked, "What could have done this?" He reached down, and tentatively touched the dead Pokemon's cheek. It was ice cold. Along its face were ragged scars, the sign of a veteran. "Its so cold…. But what would do this to them? Why?"   
His question hung unanswered in the air, thick with silence. Misty and Aurora stared on in melancholy as Gary stood up, and said coldly, "Whatever it was, it was powerful enough to kill an Umbreon. It probably killed all the Pokemon in this forest."   
"Let's keep going," Misty empathically said to Ash, but he was stubbornly still sitting besides the body. She could see the dejection fuming in his brain, and the oncoming tears. Yet he stood up, silent, and continued to walk on down the road. His cap covered his eyes from sight and she knew that he was taking this even harder. She knew what he was thinking. Pikachu might have been in this forest as well.   
Suddenly, Arashi let out an excited yip of joy from her master's grasp. The Quilava's flames sparked and she wrenched herself free from Aurora's arms. And she pointed at something up ahead and tugged at her master's leg. In the distance, cradled by trees, was the faint glow of a fire. A house.   
Misty leaped up for joy, yelling, "Yes! A house!" The two redheads sprinted down the path, the Pokemon racing at their heels. They soon reached the house, and staring at its state, felt their hopes drop. It was a shack. Dirty, run down, rattling in the wind, a few decades old. The door was ripped off its hinges and was covered by a tattered blanket. The girls froze and heard the boys laughing behind them at their expressions.   
"'A house! A house! Wow! Oh my god, it's a house!'" Ash mocked in a high voice. Despite their hate toward each other, Gary laughed along with him. Suddenly Ash felt a sharp, punishing blow across his face and Misty stood with her mallet brandishing dangerously.   
"Ash Ketchum shut up before I smash you into a twisted wreck!" She was pulsing with anger and he saw her blue eyes almost spark, literally.   
Ash quickly shook his hands in front of him in surrender. The mallet gleamed ominously, and, as Misty reluctantly hid it again, breathed a deep breath of relief. He could still feel the gap in his mouth from that horrible thing.   
Gary stopped laughing instantly and followed Aurora into the shack, smirking, as he said, "Such the big man, huh Ketchum?"   
"At least I'm human, Oak Tree!"   
"Ketchup!"   
"Okalahoma!"   
"…Uh…. Loser!"   
"Ha! Nice comeback, Ultimate Loser!"   
"SHUT UP!" (Aurora)   
Silence.   
Misty and Aurora and Gary stepped in cautiously, holding back the flap covering the entrance silently and staring in. The steel and wood walls were thickly overgrown with ivy and draped with glittering beads. There were a few crates with dark red and blue shawls over them. And, curled next to a small fireplace, was a Meowth.   
Ash followed them in, falling into the same awestruck silence. Because, wrapped around the waist of the scratch cat was the tattered shirt with a familiar emblem.   
R. Team Rocket.   
Meowth gazed up with the same malicious black eyes, yet his body was a grizzled gray from the years past. The yen on his forehead was tarnished and dull from dirt. "Well, about time," he said, raising his paw and lazily waving them in.   
Ash and Misty froze in fear, and in pity as well. It hurt to see Meowth like that, and they both wondered, 'Did we do that?' Yet Gary and Aurora walked in, and they were forced to follow. Meowth stared venomously at Ash and Misty, but he seemed to recall himself before he spoke.   
"I have one question for you all." Meowth sat patiently on his heels like a normal cat as the humans gathered around the Pokemon, sitting on the crates. They seemed to be pulled in against their will. His eyes were solemn and grave, like they held a thousand stories of heartache and pain, tragedy and triumphant. And Ash knew, as the dark dreams flashed a few strings of information into his mind that what the cat was about to tell them was dead serious. "Do you know why you are here now?"   
They shook their heads.   
"I'll tell you then." He sighed then his voice flowed into a slow chant, a true storyteller. "You have been chosen to stop the Renegades. You have to destroy the rebels. You have to destroy the humans who have disgrace the high Psychic and Ghost gods, Alakazam and Gengar.   
"It is a long story, so the beginning is best. It all started with the ancient peoples. They worshipped Alakazam and Gengar, and led peaceful lives. For a thousand years, most strayed from their beliefs, but the gods were survived by a few dedicated few. The gods were content but alone and frustrated. Yet, being the clever and power-hungry gods they were, they set up a prophecy for an emergency, a time when their power would be challenged. They created the powers of Vision," – he pointed to Ash - "Strength," – he pointed to Gary – "Stealth," – he pointed to Aurora – "and Speed." He pointed to Misty. "For a while, the powers were kept by the gods. They did not need them. But suddenly, 1,000 years ago, humans disturbed them and the gods fought. They were subdued once they ravaged and turned the city of Pokemopolis into dust. Only their shrine remained. Then, 400 years later, a band of archeologists and three Pokemon trainers discovered the ruins and awakened them. Again, their rage and rivalry sent them on a destruction spree. But the humans and a small Jigglypuff awoke the guardian of Pokemopolis, and the giant Jigglypuff vanquished them to the Shadow World. But the gods were tamed and they were subdued for years before the Renegades were born. The gods traveled freely in time, and they could see the wars starting. So they traveled back in time to take four spirits and four humans, invested them with the Powers of Destruction as they called them, creating Daemons, and tried to stop the war. But before the journey to tame all the Daemons was finished, they rebelled and were killed.   
"So now, as the Renegades are rising back to power, you have been chosen to destroy the Renegades and the humans who have betrayed the great Psychic and Ghost gods. You are Strength, Speed, Stealth, and Vision."   
  


Author's Notes   
*************** 

What do you think? That chapter took longer cause I had to explain a lot of things, but more action next time. Sorry if I disappointed you with the Sparky vs. Fear battle, but Fear was winning anyway, and I had put in that new character. If you are sharp enough, you know who and why that guy was there ^-^.   
Next time, the journey to tame and capture the Daemons begins.   
  
chustang@fcmail.com   
  



	4. The Revolt Grows

Dusk   
By Chustang   
* * * * *

Chapter 4   
"The Revolt Grows"

  
  
  


Shadows healed the wounds of fierce battle, but the pride of the warrior shambled in disgrace. With dark coating his golden fur, the sleek Raichu sparked in anger, but winced in pain. Disturbed, his wound across his shoulder down to his flank began to leak dark blood once again. Sparky glared in anger at himself for being so stupid. He couldn't go see Revenge like this! Even though Sparky was a Leader too, Revenge was brutal and like a match in a gas tank. Especially after a loss, the hyena would be murderous.   
Sparky stood outside a dark cave fringed with thorns, his long tail sparking and lashing the air. The sliver of moon dusted the edges lightly with silver, and the sparks emitting from his body seemed like small fireworks. With a sigh, the Raichu ruffled his lock of wild hair and trotted into the shadows. Suddenly, a dark flash of red and black glistened in the faint moonlight as a creature walked lazily out. Sparky paused, staring at the spirit, and soon recognized the third in command, Windy. His bright, almost glowing jade eyes pierced the dark and his crimson fur bristled in the wind. "Hey Spark, wazz up?" he asked with a hint of swagger.   
"Ugh…." Sparky moaned, "I lost to the Vision Devil. Pretty badly, too." The Golden Raichu slightly turned to show his wound. "Guess I'll have to face him. Man, if that rookie wasn't strong and a good fighter, I'd make him run every little danger mission. That chicken ran off to nurse his wounds while I took all the wrath of Fear."   
"Ooh," the fox winced. "Major trouble huh? Well, can't blame ya. Fear is a devil when it comes to fighting. That wicked wolf hunted me down once, and nearly won a race against me. 'Course, I was pretty young back then. Trust me, never, ever take a dog's bone." Windy flicked his bushy tail casually and lifted a black paw. In low spirits, the Raichu gave him a high five of luck. "Well, see ya Spark, I have to go on a raid for recruits in Celadon. Later!"   
With that, the sleek fox trotted off swiftly, his crimson, black, and white body blurring into a flash that shined in the moonlight for a second before it vanished. The dust milled up from his paws lingered in the air then slowly drifted into the sky.   
Suddenly, as the Raichu turned to face his fellow Leader, a blood-curdling screech of anger ensued by a flare of red light came from the cave. "Sparky!" the voice, fierce and thick with malice, barked and Revenge came barreling out, teeth slathered with blood and saliva. He was blazing, almost literally, with anger and he snapped with a tint of composure, "Sparky. I will ask you this once. Don't tell me you lost to Fear. Don't."   
"Okay, I won't then-" Sparky nervously, quickly said before the hyena cut him off.   
The Fire Opal glittered ominously with a silver tint, like a mood ring. "Sparky?"   
"Yes?"   
"I have an assignment for you," Revenge said with unnerving calm. His eyes were almost calm, yet the Pokemon could see straight through the act.   
Sparky took a gulp. "Yes?" he timidly squeaked out, cringing before his comrade. A flush of his own wrath kindled in his chest from being walked over like this. He didn't ever act like this when Revenge got mad before, but since he had lost a very important battle, one that would have stopped the prophecy and would have ended one war, he decided not to push it.   
"Go with Windy, and you better bring something more valuable than your thick head or else I will have it on a stick. Got that?"   
"Yes…"   
Sparky instantly whirled on his feet and dashed off, as Revenge snapped rabidly at his heals. His tail, cloaked in lightning, came down on the hyena's snout with a thunderclap, and he careened back in pain, yelping. He glared at the Raichu and gnashed his jaws in warning as Sparky ran off.   
With a glare and a tint of disgust glittering in his ruby, gold, and emerald colored eyes, he snorted. The mist drifted up around his cheeks and he casually shook it away with a flick of his head. Then the hyena turned and trotted back into the cave. The blackness in the cave seemed to welcome him, and the lights emitting from the 3d console hovering about up to his shoulder flickered a bluish green light. As Revenge came up to it, the sleek, glistening Nidorino and Moltres gathered around it glanced up with the cold eyes of machines.   
"A little trouble with your comrade?" Moltres smirked.   
Revenge shot her a flaming glance but turned it back to the console that lay before him. It showed a map of the greatly changed Indigo Island. On the Celadon city site were four small red stars, marking the positions of the human Daemons.   
"Nidorino, Moltres," Revenge said solemnly, "The humans have awakened and we have only a few months to stop them before all the Daemons are tamed. This here tracks their location as long as they aren't moving-"   
"Wow, very cutting edge," Moltres said dully.   
The poison pin Pokemon and hyena glared at her. "As I was saying," Revenge continued, "This machine finds their location as long as they aren't moving. I know this is somewhat primitive, but other than radar, it's the best tracking we have. Our time is running out even though we have the humans at bay. As we speak, the followers of the Psychic and Ghost gods are explaining the prophecy to the human Daemons. We must move quickly and smartly if we want the Revolt to survive and triumph.   
"Now, Moltres, Windy and Sparky will return with some new recruits and you should take them and your best troops to guard the Stealth Daemon Shrine in Lavender Town." The hyena raised a paw through the hologram and pointed to a tower in the middle of a thick forest. "Nidorino, transfer the Fire troops from Cinnabar to guard the Speed Daemon Shrine in Cerulean City. Also, I want the Legendaries guarding the Strength Daemon Shrine in Rage City. I'll take my best troops to the Vision Daemon Shrine in Falcon City.   
"Got that?"   
The two sleek Pokemon nodded grimly, the light falling over their faces and disorienting it with shadows. Their green and flame red eyes were like gems in the dark. Nidorino saluted and whistled a Pidgeot over which had been waiting in the trees outside. Then he leaped on its back, with the liquid grace of a ghost, and flew off. The Moltres walked to the mouth of the cave, and the wind whirled up under her flaming wings. With one ember-spitting flap, she disappeared into the dark sky.   
Revenge sat at the mouth of the thorn-framed cave, staring into the darkness.   
The race was on.

The wind was a subtle, mysterious chord and the song of the dark and speed was completed with the rhythmic thud of paws on the whispering grass. As the silver dust of the moon was caught in their jade and dark gold eyes, the two rebels glided over the hills with the wind. Sparky was perched on the fox's back and he used Windy's back as a surfboard. Despite the passenger, the ruby fox whirled along at a steady 45 mph. Yet, he was in a smooth canter.   
Soon, the grassy hills gave way to high trees that hissed like demons. They brandished their dark branches over their heads. The wind moaned with the tone of a thousand ghosts through the forest. The Shadow World was as dark as death, and it seemed to shudder in a prophetic force.   
Suddenly, with the grace of a hawk, Windy halted, dust drifting up from his black paws. He alertly flared his nostrils and flicked his black ears as the Raichu leaped off from his mount. With silence a thick aura around them, the two Renegades gazed at a solid black void at their feet. It was cleverly hidden between the roots of a towering redwood tree. They glanced at each other, and nodded.   
"Celadon City," Sparky commanded it. Suddenly, a swirl of blue and green and black, like a mini storm, formed into the vague image of a town with rusted but intact skyscrapers and Pokemon patrolling its perimeter. Then the Raichu and fox spirit confidently leaped into the void and it was dark once again.

It was totally silent as the four Pokemon trainers stared. They could of burst into flames and only blinked. The infamous pet of Team Rocket returned the stare, but soon curled up on his crate, the lips of the blanket wrapped around his waist.   
Suddenly, Ash shook his head. He stood up and slowly backed away, his eyes wide with disbelief at the tale. "No… y-you're l-llying!" he stuttered with confusion fuming like acid in his brain. It couldn't be the truth! He was saying they were killers, hitmen! It was a joke, yeah, a joke, he assured himself. Just a prank pulled by Team Rocket to capture Pikachu. But he had none of his Pokemon.   
A stinging flash of dark dreams scolded him and his heart seemed to twist in his chest. They venomously hissed, like a thousand screaming banshees, that it was true.   
Lazily flicking his tail and glancing at Ash with a confident arrogance, Meowth said, "Then why are you here?"   
Ash froze, gritting his teeth from the affliction the cruel truth brought, and the eyes of his comrades fell on him. Gary's lips tilted up in a triumphant smirk as his rival stared back, and he casually flicked his spiky brown hair.   
Snapping back with rage, Ash clutched his hands in to fists, desperately trying to hold back his anger, and shouted, "I don't know, okay!!" Even with his mind swirling in dark dreams and chest burning with ire, Ash wondered why he was angry. It was the truth, yet he hated it. He turned toward the door coated with darkness, curling back the dirty blanket overhanging it, and he sparked with finality, "I don't care. If you want to continue this dumb joke, go find another sucker."   
Suddenly, as he raised a foot to leave, the scratch cat yowled warningly, "Well, leave if you want." He stared at Ash, and, perched on his hind legs and with folded arms, added, "I guess you don't care what happened to your precious Pikachu."   
Ash stopped cold.   
"I guess a heart can deceive. Oh sure, once your Pokemon are around, you're the perfect friend, good-hearted, understanding. But once their gone, big whoop, who cares, huh?"   
His hands dug into the aluminum wall as he clutched the rim of the door, and it cracked with an ominous metallic snap. In shock, they watched him angrily wrench off a chuck of metal from the wall, leaving a jagged hole, and crumple it in his fist like dry twigs. Still facing the dark forest, his flaming eyes were caught by the silver glow of the moon. It seemed to laugh at him, glistening a bone white. With a slow rage bubbling, he said, "I loved Pikachu. He was my best friend." For a split second, a wave tears teased at the edges of his emotional brown eyes. But it faded into rage. "I promised him!" Ash spun and suddenly chucked the jagged ball of crumpled metal at the cat.   
It missed Meowth by an inch, barely brushing his pricked ears, and with a thunderous crash, shattered a hole in the wall behind him. With a shriek of horror, Misty and Aurora jumped up in fear and, trembling as they realized what had just happened, turned slowly toward Ash. Gary's jaw almost literally hit the ground. Meowth nearly fainted. And Ash stared at his hands in shock.   
And very suddenly, very quietly, Ash walked numbly to his own crate and patiently sat waiting for the Team Rocket Pokemon to recover itself, ignoring the four thick layers of silence.   
"As I was saying," Meowth croaked, feebly clawing his way back up to the top of the crate and flashing a warning glance at Ash, "You four have been chosen as the four human Daemons. Now, listen very closely. This is very important. You each have a Daemon to guard and aid you, but you must first tame them because they will not obey you and will test you gruelingly. Only once you have passed the test they present, will they oblige your command. They are in their own shrines, and you must travel the land to each one. The closest is in Cerulean City, and houses the Speed Daemon.   
"But beware, the Renegades will be guarding them fiercely. If you don't tame the Daemons, they cannot bring the Psychic and Ghost gods back to power. And you will have to face the nearly the whole population of Pokemon existing on this planet.   
"I would recommend you go to Celadon City and get supplies for you journey. You will need plenty of Ice Heals, trust me. Also bring a lot of food for the Renegades are very poor and some will stop at nothing for the tiniest morsel. One more warning, beware of your own Pokemon. Many trainers' Pokemon have rebelled against their masters, joined the Renegades, and have seriously injured people. If yours do, they will definitely try to kill you. Remember, you are their most wanted.   
"All I can give you is a wish of good luck," the Meowth sighed, his grizzled fur bristling from the chill in the air, "and a single repayment to Ash and Misty." The Pokemon's narrow black eyes were shining with apology as it raised a small blue Ultra Ball. "While I was in Team Rocket, we found Ash and Misty unconscious and quickly took advantage by stealing every Pokemon they had with them. We raised Pikachu as well as we could. James even won a couple of badges. One day, two Machamps from the Revolt stole them from us from and Jessie and James died a few weeks later in the hospital from their Mega Punches. But we did raise a baby Pichu, Pikachu's son, into a champion." His eyes were glimmering in tears as Ash slowly reached out and gently touched the cold, metallic orb. It stung with memories. Pikachu's son… But there would be no Pikachu…   
There would never be Pikachu.   
"Take it and go."   
Uncertain, Ash paused. He stared into Meowth's eyes and knew they had been truly sorry. So, hand bleeding slightly from the jagged metal, he took it shakily. Gary and the girls slowly walked out the door. Gary paused in the doorway, watching Ash clutch the Ultra Ball to his chest and stare at the Pokemon, his eyes silently pleading, 'Why?'   
"Let's go Ketchum," he said with a surprising tone of cold concern.   
"Yeah," Ash said, turning to walk toward the door, his hat tilted over his eyes, "let's go." He clutched the blue orb in his hand, and a single tear rolled down his cheek. His dreams were gone.

It was in the golden aura of the flickering campfire in a small grove of trees beside the path that the weight on their shoulders seemed to triple. Shadows loomed and pursued the light, like a Renegade stalking. They flinched at every flare of the light, when the dark skulked audaciously forward, but was soon fought off.   
Around the Arashi-made fire, Aurora, who seemed the best at cooling the nerves of her comrades and planning, sighed and turned her eyes to each of them. Intelligent, concerned cerulean eyes; Arrogant, intense hazel eyes; and fiery, gritty sable eyes. In her heart, she knew that fear and heartache were no strangers to their lives now. Arashi curled beside her, her body shuddering from the ominous chill.   
"Well," she said with a dull tone, "I guess this is it. Tomorrow we should do what the Meowth said, go into Celadon and get supplies for our journey."   
Yet despite her words of soft comfort, they continued to hide their glances of fear and heartache. Ash, who had clearly endured the worst toll, sat with his back against the tree farthest from the rest of the group. With dark hair concealing his eyes, he tipped his tattered cap down and clutched the blue Ultra Ball to his chest, as silent as a shattered memory. He avoided them because he knew that Gary would mock him, he knew Misty would criticize him, and he knew that Aurora would overlook him for his condition.   
"Come on you guys," Aurora encouraged softly, "you know we won't get anywhere if we don't act like a team."   
"She's right."   
Suddenly, they turned to discover that Ash was standing beside the fire, staring into the labyrinth of twisting ginger and crimson flames. He had the blue orb clutched in his hand. "We have to work as a team, else we are dead." He shrugged a backpack onto his shoulder and continued with the cold intensity of a trained commander. "We'll go into town, get the stuff we need, and head back here. If anybody gets separated, we should meet at Meowth's shack, Ok? Aurora, Gary, you guys have the only Pokemon, and we should share them in cause of attack. So everybody each take three."   
The wind whistled like a ghostly lament, and it teased with an unnerving chill at their faces and hair, almost as if calling to come and play in the darkness outside the fire. Ash shivered and crouched next to the fire, warming his open palms over the flames.   
"No way!" Gary rejected vehemently, wrathfully glaring at his rival who had seemed to find the leader in himself before he had. "They're my Pokemon so why should they have them, huh?" He folded his arms to add a tone of power and remained sitting. "I trained them hard, for what? Just to give them away like they were nothing? No way, no how. My Pokemon stay with their master, namely me. Got that?"   
Across the fire, the flame-hair and orange blonde sighed with annoyance, flashing each other secret looks which were, undeniably, "Stupid boys…" Aurora dangerously snapped sparking eyes toward the most arrogant human Daemon, yet her usually intractable mouth was still.   
Ash turned an accusing look toward his rival, and said, eyes narrowed threateningly in the golden glow of the fire, "Gary, just because you're Strength, doesn't mean that our opinions are nothing. For once in your life, accept the fact that someone besides your 'all-mighty' self is right." He was answered with silence from his adversary and a flaming challenge.   
"Okay, calm down, we should get to sleep, okay?" Misty whined in a galled voice, rolling her blue eyes and moaning with the pure denseness of boys in general, especially Ash and Gary. She seemed to remind them of the lethal mallet she kept at the ready, and reluctantly, they withdrew slowly to their opposite sides and pressed their backs against the slick tree bark, but the argument of intense, mute insults were immortal.   
Misty and Aurora curled the single blanket over them protectively, while they rested their heads against Kimawari. Misty gently stroked the Persian's luscious fur before she nudged her head against its flanks and turned to face the inky, star-freckled sky. The rhythmic purring massaged her throbbing headache, and Aurora turned before drifting off. But she glanced down from her sky gaze, to see Ash tossing dirt on the fire lazily with his hands. With a flare of refusal, the flames seemed to desperately stretch to the sky, as if trying to escape, but the earth sealed its fate. He sleepily murmured a few things over the ashes, as if asking for this nightmare to end. Ash flickered his gaze up and was locked with hers for a second, and it was then she saw it.   
It was the first spark of depression and heartache that made him seem a thousand years old as he gazed back, his mind and heart twisted with infinite emotions. But he simply reverted his gaze to the rapidly dying fire. As soon as the silvery, ghost-like wisps of smoke teased the air, he leaned back against the tree, tilted down his hat brim, and with a final, weary sigh, drifted off.   
But she knew what it meant.   
Their lives were gone. Forever.

Ruby fur glistening in the pale, golden rays of morning, the fox was the first to awake, his jade eyes sleepily rolling as he tediously stretched his legs. Once his energy began to pulse in his veins, the spirit combed out a few burrs from his fur from the grass bed he had slept on, curling back his black lips in disgust as he picked at them with his fangs. Windy flicked his long, flowing tail causally and lunged through the bushes surrounding their hidden bed, while Sparky remained sleeping. He landed on agile black paws in the paw-printed, narrow path that led to the heavily Renegade guarded Celadon city, his muzzle gently stroking the wind as it whistled through the dense branches.   
But nothing was detected. The golden, strawberry-tinted sunrays were captured in the dew on the emerald grass, like diamonds. A few savage cries from the disturbed Sperows in an overhead branch threateningly scolded the fox but, with a smirk, Windy spat a flame at the birds that bitterly squawked at him before they scattered. With an arrogant laugh, he snorted a few embers from his nostrils and pranced happily back in to the grove.   
Sparky sat, his cheeks raining healthy, crackling sparks as he lazily stirred from his bed beneath a thorn bush and whipped his tail to rouse himself. The Electric mouse supported himself on his stubby, blood-blackened paws and shook the glittering dew from his gold fur. With a restrained yawn, he asked, "How's it look?"   
"Cost is clear." Windy tossed his head in his impatience, sending the dew that had collected in his coat flying in a water barrage. "Hurry it up would you," he snapped, "I haven't eaten and I want to finish this assignment before I retire as an old geezer."   
Sparky warningly released a few solitary white sparks that floated before the fox but shrugged it off and crouched to leap through the bushes. His fur suddenly was crackling with potent lightning as he paused, and the Raichu flinched in surprise. His frilly black ears twitched involuntarily, and he detected the faint wisps of human with his button nose. "Somebody's coming!" he whispered to his comrade, who promptly lay next to him, crimson and black body pressed against the ground and staring up through the gaps in the delicate leaves.   
It was the soft thud of human feet.   
Sparky and Windy both narrowed their fiercely gleaming eyes.   
The Daemons.   
Strength, the arrogant-eyed boy, led the way, perched on his Ponyta, which furiously teased the wind with its nose. Speed, the blue-eyed girl, pressed her delicate hands against the horse's flank and followed, nervously scanning the path. Stealth, the flame-haired girl, attentively focused on the ominously whispering trees and glanced back at the last Daemon. Vision, who had the supplies in a knapsack strung over his shoulder, suddenly froze as if he had been struck by lightning. His emotional sable eyes flickered as the dark dreams began to stir again. They remained eerily silent, yet they bristled with warning and kept shrieking in their screeching voices to run.   
The rest of the kids ignored this and continued to warily walk on, but it was the accusing glare of Vision aimed straight at the bushes that made Sparky remember. It was the kid he had seen in the Shadow Void, and he felt the intensity of the glare cause him to flinch. The dark eyes of Vision were deep in a thick, sleepy trance and they drilled straight through them, like a ghost.   
Unnerved, Windy resisted a spooked whine and flashed glistening jade eyes toward the Raichu. Sparky nodded.   
Gary turned his head of spiky brown hair, staring heatedly at his rival, but quickly yanked on the Ponyta's mane to halt. Suspicious, he called out, "Ketchum, what are you doing?" With a snort, his fire horse reared suddenly, its body cloaked in an aura of pure flames. It fiercely shrilled a challenge, wildly slashing at the bushes with steel-hard, glinting hooves, its eyes a flaming hell of hate. The Ponyta's nostrils were violated repulsively with the stench of their bloody fur and violent intentions.   
Misty quickly jumped back in shock but focused and firmly wrapped her fingers around its head and held it down as much as she could. The fire horse instantly thrashed against her and flung its hind legs violently into the air, screaming. It stumbled, as its hind legs came down off balance, and was thrown to the ground with Gary still on its back. Panting, she stood back as Gary scrambled off its back and recalled his unruly Pokemon. The Ponyta was paralyzed in mid leap at the bushes, its shrill challenge cut short, and the red energy surged back into the Poke Ball with a metallic echo.   
Ash walked up, and his smirk twisted his face.   
"Ketchum, shut up." Gary threateningly raised a fist that almost seemed to pulse with dark red light. His eyes were as icy and cruel as a steel chain, but were flaming dark warnings. "Don't think I can't thrash you as easily as a Charizard trashes a Oddish. Strength is no match for Vision."   
Ash suddenly jerked over to the side as fast a thunderbolt as Gary tried a surprising spinning kick. But it fell with zero effect a foot short. Gary shrieked in surprise as Ash simply grabbed his foot and firmly held it. He hit the ground with a thud and he groaned weakly.   
"Jeeze! Would you guys stop fighting?" Aurora whined, rolling her amber eyes. "Get serious! We don't have time to fool around when we have a job to do. I don't know about you but I listened to Meowth. He said we had to stop the Renegades. And this doesn't help us one bit to fight." She glared at Ash and Gary. "Now, shake. I don't want another scrap."   
With a gleam of resent and anger, Ash sighed but he couldn't betray his good-hearted conscious. Even though he hated Gary's guts because of his relentless, cruel harassment, he knew he couldn't deny that they were once friends. So, despite the pride churning in his stomach, he offered his hand.   
Folding his arms, Gary refused it by arrogantly turning away and sticking his nose in the air.   
Misty whacked him in the head.   
So, with anger burning in his flaming eyes, Gary resentfully finished the handshake. Suddenly, a shock flickered down both their spines, and they realized what they were doing. Memories of their long rejected, long forgotten friendship haunted them, and they stared at each other, before limply recoiling their hands. We they ever going to be friends? It had been years since the fight.   
But Gary quickly regained his arrogant, abhorring glare and violently yanked his Arcaine's Poke Ball out and as the fearsome fire dog materialized from the red energy, leaped on his back, walking on down the road. "Forget it losers," he spat at them, "especially you Ketchum. That was a long time ago."   
Misty shook her head. "Boys. Think they're so smart, act all cocky, then when they get sentimental, act like jerks or idiots. And they say we're hard to figure out." She folded her arms. "I guess they don't look in the mirror much."   
Aurora, who led her Tauros yearling, laughed lightly and quickly slipped a spare piece of rope around his blunt muzzle as a halter. "I guess Gary isn't going to wait for us, knowing him," she said, "so we'll ride Jewel."   
She swiftly flung her legs over its back, clutching his spike horns, and once mounted, she offered a hand up for Misty. Once she was on as well, Misty offered her hand to Ash. With a flicker of doubt in his emotional sable eyes, Ash hesitated for a moment, but accepted it and jumped on.   
So, with one slight nudge of her heel, Aurora sent the Tauros cantering after the Strength Daemon. Jewel temporarily staggered but soon discovered a good gait and caught up.   
Just as the dust from the hooves settled against the horizon, Windy, growling fiercely, snapped violently and leaped from the bush. The fox narrowed his eyes at Sparky as he emerged. "Why didn't you say go??!!" he roared, and dodged a retaliation thunderbolt from the Raichu. "WE HAD THEM!! They had weakling Pokemon! No Daemons! We could have stopped the Prophecy right here and now!" His fur bristled warningly, and lethal white fangs flashed against his black jaws.   
Sparky shot a weak, lazy Thundershock at his comrade, and it knocked the fox to the ground lightly. He brushed the wild lock of gold fur from over his eyes, which glowed a bone white in anger, and he spat back, "Windy, think! I didn't get to this position in life by being a fool, like you are. The first rules your commander taught you in boot camp are to consider, strategize, and then attack! Damn it, if you had leaped out just then, they would have whomped you hard. You realize that you are only a level 3 trained spirit against four Daemons."   
Snarling in rage, Windy leapt back up and snapped back, "A spirit and a level 1 trained Raichu! We could have taken them, they were inexperienced and we had the element of surprise!"   
"I wouldn't have helped you do such a idiotic thing, ever!" Lethal sparks and a thunderclap emitted from the Electric leader's body, and he whipped the fox's nose with his long tail. Sparky snorted, a mist rising from his nostrils slightly, in arrogance as the spirit staggered back up. Windy's body pulsed with dark red light, his jade eyes flaming with livid green light, yet the high lieutenant remained silent.   
"Have you learned your lesson, lieutenant? I don't want to resort to stronger attacks…" he warned, raising a fist enclosed in white sparks. "I do have the power and option to kill you on the spot, even though it wouldn't please Revenge. So I think you should respect your leader. Once we finish the raid, we'll attack with the new recruits and then we'll be able to stop them. That way we'll kill the Daemons with out getting to badly hurt, and it'll get the recruits some experience." He stared at Windy, who glared coldly back, and turned on his agile paws and trotted causally down the road. Reluctantly, the fox sulked after.   
And the vast adventure to come unfolded, one called Celadon City.

Darkness loomed and listened to the stalking presence of the two Renegades as they silently, carefully placed their black paws against the cold steel. The eerie light emanating from their glowing eyes was the single motion of life in the pitch-black room. Sparky, with the occasional spark leaping and twisting from his dark cheeks to light the way, led silently, coldly glaring down at the targets.   
Windy, who easily pierced the swirling night with his jade eyes, paused suddenly, then lightly stomped his foot. A sultry, hot wind circled in the dark, steel-walled room, and the Raichu glanced back at his accomplish.   
It was the signal.   
As they walked on the steel rafters, their hearing detected a deep, rumbling growl, which was not unlike thunder, from below. The guardian of the Pokemon Center barracks, a large Nidoking, flicked its spiky ears and detected their stealthy movement, yet was unable to pinpoint their location. Its blunt nose quivered, as it smelled acutely, and it was acridly violated with the bloody, revolting smell of evil they emitted. Nidokings, despite their enormous strength and bulk, were dull and this one couldn't have anticipated the ruby fury that descended with the screaming accuracy and swiftness like a diving hawk. Windy, claws extended, slashed at the Nidoking's susceptible eyes and screeched. In his open jaws, red embers danced and flickered as the fire he summoned came in a sweeping flame that broiled its target's eyes.   
A roar so thunderous rumbled from the giant drill Pokemon that the bolts securing the pillar that Sparky stood on shook ominously. Instantly, his tail erect in fright, the Revolt leader heard the shrill whine of metal snapping and, in the light of Windy's Flamethrower attack, saw the bolts shoot from their sockets like bullets from guns. Suddenly, as Windy leaped away from the tortured Pokemon that clutched its eyes and the burned Nidoking released another bellow of rage and pain, the rafter gave way.   
The detached beam, as if manipulated by Windy's concentrated jade eyes, hit the armored tank of Nidoking and sent it crashing to the ground, with Sparky clinging to it for dear life. Sparks were flying dangerously from his dark cheeks in fear, and he quickly leaped off the beam, panting. The Raichu nodded toward Windy, whispering, "The Pokemon should be around here but be careful. The humans probably have the whole place rigged."   
"Should we get the Nidoking?"   
"Only after we get the other Pokemon. But I'm not sure if he's even going to see after this," Sparky said softly, glancing back at the Nidoking's bleeding, glazed eyes that painfully shut. Its body shuddered before fading to unconsciousness. "He may not even live."   
"One casualty. Not bad for a raid."   
"Yeah, but we have to get moving," he warned, his face lighted by the sparks glowing in his cheeks. The Renegades turned to explore the dark barrack, only to be greeted by the angry shout of the guard.   
"Hey! Who's there?" a human voice alerted them from the far corner. With intense, glowing eyes, they saw that he had been sleeping on a cot during their entrance, and the crash had awakened him. With a flick of his wrist, he raised a black pistol, and it clicked menacingly. Sparky, who nodded to his comrade to find their bounty, savagely snarled, his body glistening with lightning. In a lethal flash, the demon of speed crashed in a head butt into the human. Snarls and screams were the song of victory as the electric charge he shocked the human with knocked him out, and damaged his nerve system severely. The body fell onto the cot.   
Meanwhile, his acutely quivering nose lowered to the ground, the ruby fox tracked the hidden Poke Balls. His paws landing on the floor echoed against the dark, bloodied walls, and once Windy reached the far corner, his nose flared and he yipped softly to Sparky. A small sack that clinked metallically when disturbed sat in the corner, slumping. As Sparky probed at it with his tail, to check for a trap, the lip of the sack drooped and a green Great Ball rolled out.   
"Yes! That's it, now grab it and let's go!" Sparky whispered excitedly.   
The jaws of the fox closed around the neck of the sack, and just as he lifted it…   
BRIIIIII-iiiieee-NNNNNNNNNNNGGGGG!   
A shrill alarm, screaming impending defeat into their ears, and they cringed as a crack of sudden light came from the opening door.   
  
Ash, Misty, Aurora, and Gary, the four Daemons, paused as the thick, whispering foliage on the trail stopped, revealing their destination against a fairy-wing blue sky. Rusted, scarred skyscrapers stood, defiant against the sky and glistened dully in the sun. The people that had busied the streets in their memories now were wary, dark clothed and sulking, not smiling, not laughing. Only a few, darting eyes were raised as they, in shock, slowly, silently, walked down Main Street. They looked up from fires in barrels, from under black hats, from under cardboard boxes. A few, dangerous Pokemon were at their masters feet, but they seemed accusing of their masters. Every once in a while, a Pokemon, which was restrained on a leash, would savagely bark and scream and bear fangs and claws, thrashing to escape the leash and attack them.   
"Well, this place has definitely changed…" Misty said worriedly. "Just look at the people. They seem so afraid, like their being attacked. And the Pokemon, they act like they want to kill us!" She shook her head, unnerved at a Rattata that fiercely snapped at them from its cage on the street.   
"War does change people," Aurora said. "During the war, you're always on the alert, always fighting. It wrecks your nerves horribly. And afterwards, you keep seeing the enemy's troops walking down the road, standing in your yard, shooting in your house. The Pokemon, well, they take it just as hard as their masters and turn mean. That's why they hate us."   
Up ahead, on his Arcanine, Gary said, "Yeah, they must be trying to rebel like the other Renegades. That's why they try to kill us. They know who we are." The coldness of his own words sent a shiver down his spine. "I guess we should get going, else who knows, they might get off their leashes…" He brushed his fingers causally through his spiky brown hair, and halted his mount suddenly, going pale.   
"Hey, Gary, what's the matter? Why did you stop?" Ash yelled from the rear of the concession. He leaned over the side to see Gary, and instantly knew why.   
Dusty daggers bristled dangerously and clashed hungrily, while the scythed claws drilled, spinning furiously, into the concrete road. Thin, wiry fissures appeared beneath the glinting blades as the massive creature bent forward on its claws. The dark, narrowed eyes flamed with the seasoned look of a killer, and the Sandslash smirked. It was at least 4 feet tall, and the bristling spines made it seemed twice as high. "Sand-SLASH!" it roared.   
"It doesn't look to happy to see us does it?" Ash said fearfully, as it narrowed its eyes dangerously and raised one scythe to strike.   
Suddenly, Gary said, rearing back his Arcanine, "Arcanine! Fire Barrier!"   
Obediently, the dog released a flame barrier from its jaws and the thick flames blocked out their sight from the Sandslash. They crackled ominously, swaying in the wind, and they sighed in relief slightly. But the Arcanine didn't relax, as the Fire Barrier crackled, its black nose furiously quivered.   
"SANDSLASH!"   
The dark flash that plunged easily through the barrier swiped glinting scythes, and it screeched. The claws came down with a whistle and Gary violently twisted his Pokemon's head to dodge it. With a yelp of pain from Arcanine, the claw slashed down, barely missing his head. But despite the swiftness of the attacking Sandslash, Arcanine reacted quicker and aimed his fangs at its belly.   
Suddenly, the Arcanine was head butted fiercely by the Sandslash and sent flying into Jewel behind it. Gary was flung onto the head of the Tauros, almost impaled on its sharp horns. The impact from him and his Pokemon sent a potent jolt through Jewel and, in the chain reaction, flung his riders to the ground as well.   
Misty and Aurora both landed right on top of Ash, but he almost angrily shoved them off. His head had taken a hard blow, and Aurora was unconscious. Misty seemed to have endured without any bruises, and was sitting up, lightly rubbing her head. "That was definitely a ride. My head hurts… oww…" she said dizzily. Misty glanced over at Gary, who staggered up, leaning against the dizzy bulk of his Arcanine.   
"I swear mommy… I didn't eat the cookies…" was all the dazed, misty response that he gave. Clutching his stomach, he then promptly puked.   
Ash's own stomach became nauseous at the sight. Dazed and confused like the rest, he vaguely reached out a hand for Misty to help him up but didn't see the dusty brown-coated man and three others appear on the street. Suddenly, like cobras striking, they lunged forward and clapped their hands over Gary and Misty's mouths, quickly sedating them with needles. Misty quickly screamed, but it fell limp and dead because of the kidnappers' hands as she was dragged out of the street. Through misting, swirling eyes, she could see them pick up Aurora's limp body and quickly net the Pokemon.   
Ash, blinded by impending black, only felt the gruff hands seize him by the mouth and arms and the slight, silent prick of a needle. Soon, he numbed and fell asleep as the hit men dragged them off.   
The only voice was that of someone saying, "Good work Sandy. Now we'll dispose of those wicked Renegades."

Darkness, and a swirling storm of burning pain in her brain. Voices, a soft beckoning of life that seemingly became only a dream to listen to. Her body was numb and therefore did not exist in this black abyss of thoughts. Misty slowly detected the cold wind nipping her cheeks and a sharp intake breath of cold air caused her to open her eyes. Despite the haze from sleep, she saw the icy, dark walls around her and the dull light that flooded through the small, barred window. One wall was made of steel bars. Her heart quivered with fear in her chest as she realized where she was.   
In a jail cell.   
Sore and drowsy, Misty weakly raised herself from her laying position on a hard cot that was strung to the wall by chains. Her long, tangled orange-blonde hair fell in wisps over her face and through them she saw Aurora with her arms crossed and face dangerously glaring, sitting on a rickety chair on the other side. "Well, this isn't quite the welcome I expected…" she whined, then, as she saw Misty awakening, said, "You finally woke up! Those drugs must have put you out pretty hard."   
Confused, she asked, rubbing her head as she sat up, "Drugs? I got drugged?"   
"Don't you remember? After we got knocked off Jewel, they drugged you guys. Right, Gary?" Aurora turned to face the barred wall, which showed the two boys in their own muddy, filthy cell. Dirty and tired as well, Gary leaned up against the bars with his hands limply hanging out. His eyes were half closed, still slightly effected from the sedative.   
"Yeah, whatever… just please be quiet… I've got a huge headache…" he moaned drowsily.   
Aurora laughed. "That's a yes," she reassured Misty.   
Misty staggered up and looked across the corridor to the other occupied cell to see that Ash was standing on their chair, straining to look out the window. With a drained sigh of dejection, he sat back down and rested his chin in his palms. His muddy, ragged hat was barely holding together, limp and faded, yet he still kept it. "Hey you guys, what do you think Meowth meant when he said the Daemons would test us?" he asked suddenly, raising his head from his hands.   
Gary, who leaned fully against the bars and let his arms hang limply through, as if depressed, was the first to talk. Dark brown eyes half closed, he drowsily said, "What was the question again..." Lazily murmuring in disorientation, the Strength Daemon slumped to the ground, totally asleep in the corner.   
"I think what he meant was that they want to see if we're good enough," Misty replied, brushing her fingers through her ruffled orange blonde hair. "But the test itself might just depend on what Daemon it is," she added. The lanky girl reached up to the top bunk, and swiftly pulled herself up to gaze out the window. Through the barred window, which seemed to laugh at her in her prison, she could see only a grimy back alley littered with tipped garbage cans and the occasional, black-smeared Ratattas snapping over a scrap.   
Aurora glanced up at her. "What do you mean?"   
"Well, just think about. The Speed Daemon must test how fast you are, the Stealth how sneaky you are, the Strength how strong you are, and Vision… hmm, I guess I don't know about that. What kind of test would have to do with Vision?" Misty turned her curious blue eyes toward the Vision Daemon as if silently asking him.   
Suddenly, a click of a steel door being opened echoed ominously through the silent hall. Instantly, Ash, Misty, and Aurora caught their breaths, and then raced to the bars. Misty brushed back her long orange hair which she had pulled back into a ponytail with a piece of rope they had found in the shack, leaning through the bars as much as she could managed without being wedged in. The cold, bitter bars felt like steel-ice against the warm flesh of her cheeks. All of the Daemons glanced up at each other, their eyes tensed in fear.   
Dusty brown spikes bristled like daggers as the sleek, lethal Sandslash entered on its clawed feet, scythes at the ready. A muted light flooded in through the opened door, highlighting the dangerous creature. Its refined head acutely scanned the corridor, its intense black eyes landing on their cells. The Pokemon tilted its head back toward the door, hissing a swift, "Slash!"   
"Let 'em out Sandy. They check out," a gruff but compassionate, vaguely male voice said from the door. A sudden black silhouette of a human cut the light from behind the Sandslash, raising a jangling ring of keys and flicking them toward his Pokemon. The Sandslash easily caught the keys around its scythe claws. With an obedient nod, it walked down the corridor while clutching the keys between its long claws.   
"Careful," Aurora whispered as it came closer, "this could be a trick." Her voice was deathly serious, and she apparently recognized the importance of this mission. Fiery amber eyes narrowed, she locked a suspicious glare on the Sandslash as it skillfully placed the key into the steel lock. A healthy dust brown, the Pokemon's scale-like daggers relaxed against its skin, making it seem much smaller. The key slid into the lock, clicked, and the door automatically swung open.   
Misty and Aurora felt a sudden breeze of cool, refreshing freedom brush lightly against their skin as the bars seemed to recoil, releasing them. The Sandslash stepped out of their way, as courteous as a servant, as the female half of the Daemon group embraced in happiness, savoring their freedom.   
"Hey, the guys would also like to get out!" Ash said sharply, his bloodied hands tightly clutching the icy, forbidding bars.   
"Oops, sorry Ash, I guess we kind of forgot," Aurora apologized sincerely. A slight flush of embarrassment dusted her cheeks, and she swiftly wrenched out the key of their lock and unlocked his cell. She grasped the bars and pulled the wall back like door. As the Vision Daemon stepped out of the imprisoning cell, he turned to see the man walking towards them.   
His rough, spiky brown hair was straight in the air, and the instant Misty and Ash's eyes fell upon that hauntingly familiar face, their hearts were torn between tears and fear. The man's tanned, ruggedly handsome face was dark from dirt and the same squinting eyes that only held compassion and laughter, like so many memories proved to be true. He was at least six feet tall, with a slight, warm smile on his lips. It was like staring into a mirror, watching your remembrance suddenly become your reality; one you knew couldn't truly be what it was. His dark, rough attire was made up of a black bandana, dusty brown pants, and a leather vest. "Sorry about locking you guys up," he said with an apologetic smile, "but we have to be careful. A lot of Dittos have been morphing into people and attacking lately. You guys check out though, you're free to go. Your Pokemon are at the Pokemon Center being treated."   
Ash leaned slightly toward Misty, whispering in her ear, "Hey, that guy looks just like Brock! Do you think he could be?"   
Misty only slightly turned her head toward him, so the guy wouldn't notice. "No way! It's been over five hundred years since we last saw him, before all of this. Brock couldn't have stayed fifteen for that long! Its impossible!"   
Meanwhile, as outgoing and friendly as she was, Aurora had boldly offered her hand and the Brock-look-alike shook it. He possessed the same Brock charm and compassion, but the mirror-memory they were witnessing couldn't really be…   
"Hi! My name's Aurora Leah, nice to meet you," she happily introduced herself.   
With a hearty laugh, the man replied, "Nice to meet you to! The name's Tremaine Slate. And my Pokemon is Sandy." Sandy, its brown scales bristling, rubbed against its master's leg, seemed to really love Tremaine. Its black eyes were sealed and it obediently followed as his master suddenly noticed Misty whispering and turned his gaze toward them. "And who might you be?"   
"I'm Misty," she replied. "This is Ash." She pointed behind her "And the guy asleep in the cell is Gary. I was wondering, are you related to someone named Brock? We, uh, kind of knew him-"   
"No way!" Tremaine suddenly interrupted, surprised. He stepped back, scratching his head. "Brock was my great-great-great-grandpa! In the hospital, he told me when I was two that he knew two kids named Ash and Misty when he was a kid. But that's impossible!" He was stunned, but the familiar echo of memories of Brock in Tremaine let them knew that he was happy to finally see them, even if Brock couldn't. "Well, I guess if you are Ash and Misty, you four must be the Daemons."   
"Yeah! How did you tell?" Aurora asked, curious.   
He causally reached down with a hand to stroke his Sandslash, Sandy. "Well, if you knew Brock when he was a kid, over four hundred years ago, you must be the Daemons because no human who wasn't could have lived that long. A Ghost god created the Prophecy so naturally, because Ghosts have a power to preserve human bodies and souls, they should be able to live as long as they were in the spell of Sleep. Besides, it kind of gave away when he said you guys had encountered the Ghost and Psychic gods before."   
Tremaine paused, as there was a slight, pained moan from the waking Strength Daemon. Sleepily, weakly opening his light brown eyes, Gary slowly stood up. He yawned loudly, still recovering from the drugs, and leaned heavily against the bars, clearing his vision. "What'd I miss?" he asked mistily.   
Instantly, a flicker of mischief devilishly told them exactly how to react. Three smirking eyes met as they nodded slightly, laughing inside. "Oh, not anything important…" Aurora said slyly, her hand gently pushing the door shut. Being as drowsy-headed as a Pikachu-ketchup-high, Gary didn't notice that they were outside while the door clanged shut.   
"Hey!" he snapped swiftly into reality, just as the door was about to lock. With a smirk of vengeance he deserved so much, Ash stopped the door, but only a slim fraction of an inch from being locked in again. Gary had lunged at the gate, and now froze instantly in place as he saw just who had held it.   
"Well Gary, I guess the tables have turned." Ash tilted back the edges of his lips threateningly in an irrepressible smirk. His fingers snatched the keys out of the lock, and jangled them like metal bait in front of Gary.   
"Come on Ketchum, knock it off."   
"I have a first name you know," he said a little cynically.   
"Just open the door, okay?"   
"Why should I? I don't owe you a single favor."   
"I'll give you a very hard punch if you don't."   
"From all the way in there?" he asked, mocking him. "I don't think so."   
Dangerous eyes narrowed, he repeated through gritted teeth, "Just do it."   
Ash met the fiery glare with his devilish smile. "Hmm… I guess we could leave him here while we get the supplies, or maybe longer, couldn't we?"   
"Certainly," Misty confirmed.   
"Okay okay! What do want me to do, Ketchum?"   
"My name's Ash."   
"Fine, Ash, what do you want?"   
"A complete apology."   
"WHAT!?"   
"No apology, no keys."   
Gary grumbled dangerously to himself, barely audible.   
"Can't hear you, Gary."   
"ALRIGHT! I am sorry!"   
"Aw, say it like you mean it," Ash said in a mocking, babyish voice.   
"Shut up…"   
"Okay guys, let's go!" he said causally to Misty and Aurora, slightly turning and relaxing his grip on the bars.   
"Wait! Alright, I'll do it. I'm really sorry."   
"For what?"   
"Don't push it."   
Ash laughed, his hand pulling the door back just enough to admit Gary through, and slammed it shut after him in emphasis. With a glare, he smoothed down his mud-knotted hair and threateningly sparked a challenge. It retained the arrogant fire he constantly fed by tormenting Ash, obviously unaffected by his apology. As if he was reading his mind, Ash gritted his teeth behind his sealed lips as Gary haughtily walked past. Once again, the dark dreams stirred sleepily, only nipping at the thought of retaliation. But he ignored them. One day, he thought, Gary will pay.   
"Okay, let's go get your Pokemon and I'll explain the situation on the way," Tremaine said, gesturing the four Daemons to follow him. "We have a lot to tell you, if you want to survive the Prophecy, unlike the last group." Sandy nodded and she bristled her long, dangerous spikes in warning as they walked down the corridor and were flooded with light as the door opened at the end.   
All the time, they kept thinking, "The last group?"

The infinite, welcoming arch of the passive blue sky clashed with the dark, tense presence of warring shadows. Hunting, fire-lit eyes only thrived on vengeance, and their sleek, swift bodies glided on shadow-wings. Their gazes settled on the group of human youths, their narrowed eyes glowed with retaliation.   
They knew.   
Meanwhile, oblivious to the death stares they received, the four Daemons walked out of the shabby building, a rundown apartment. Its windows were boarded up, as if being bombarded by an army, and the punished building sagged in the picturesque sunlight, only one ghastly reminder of the harsh cruelty of the twisted destiny overhanging Indigo Island. Tremaine led them out, while he recalled Sandy to her Poke Ball, raising his palm to shade his eyes.   
As usual, Misty and Aurora led the Daemons. They seemed to maintain respect for their teammates more than the two males. Ash came out third, his fiery brown eyes narrowed at Gary. His lips form an insult, only to be discovered by Aurora who kicked him, and stopped. The final Daemon came out the door, joining the group as they looked down the street.   
Tremaine glanced around the street, as if expecting an assault, his hand resting against an ominously bulging pocket. His dark fingers tightened around it, but soon relaxed and turned toward the Pokemon Center. Sunlight cascaded down the street that lay in disrepair and smudged with mud, trash and the occasional dead Rattata. Just as Tremaine nodded to them, again, destiny twisted just to show them their paths wouldn't be the forgiving ones.   
The sudden flare of venomous eyes that glowed in the dark alley across the street loomed like twin nightmares.   
"Neo." Tremaine's face twisted agitatedly, instantly turning to ice. Ash, Misty, Aurora, and Gary all cringed, terrified. Their backs against the walls, they all reached for their shining Poke Balls. Somehow he noticed. "Don't, your Pokemon aren't strong enough to stop him. Neo is a demon, and they'd only be hurt."   
"Neo? What are you talking about Tremaine? How could he be a demon?" Misty asked, her voice quivering. There was a flare of pain in her chest.   
"You'll see." His voice was cold.   
Ash flinched. Neo? Again, the familiar dark dreams hissed and circled. They were again furiously snapping at his mind, as venomous and bitter as poison. Flashes. They were of the darkening, narrowed eyes that shadowed over in anger. Pain. Whiplashes over the nose. Angry words and angry screams. Shadows. Light. Evolution. Revenge. Screams. Thirst for more vengeance. Rebellious snorts and roars. Attacks. Pain. Rage. People throwing ropes. Snapping. Stomping. Screams. Only one thought. Why?   
Ash blinked, his eyes flashing a last time, one that echoed ominously, and found only the sky staring back. He was on his back, dizzy from the visions. They hissed but faded, like a final wisp of smoke from a firestorm.   
"Hey Ash, what are you doing?" Misty and Aurora's concerned, fearful eyes leaned over him, glimmering like gems in terror. "You gotta get up, that thing's attacking!" Misty said, reaching out a hand. Quickly, he accepted it and was swiftly yanked to his feet, longish black hair unruly beneath his loose hat. Blinking from the punishing sunlight, he leaned against the wall to straighten out his rocked mind.   
"I-it's nothing… I'll explain later," he said quickly, his fingers, still bloody, were gently massaging his throbbing temples.   
Neo. Again. Neo, a demon? His dreams only pictured a bloodied, rugged Donphan, a Pokemon. Not anything close to a demon.   
The narrowed, rage-misted eyes locked solidly on Tremaine. Suddenly, there was a furious, thunderous roar from the dark alley, and twin, glinting horns were thrust into the air dangerous, swinging furiously. Only pure hatred could of rivaled the fearsome creature in potency, as the demon thundered out.   
Dark, navy blue armor glinting in the sunlight; two long horns on his long, narrow head that curved lethally; leather-skinned, immense bulk powerful enough to destroy a brick building with a few tackles; stocky, rock-hard legs that quaked the frail ground beneath their thunder-power; and finally, the narrowed, fury-burning eyes that were over-shadowed ominously by the horns.   
The rhino demon lolled its head dangerously, the horns slashing, angrily roaring in its hoarse, desperate voice. It must have been at least a towering ten feet. Feet pawing, it flashed a glare in Tremaine's direction. Instead of charging in a destruction spree, it suddenly opened its mouth and spoke. "Well Tremaine, I've finally had enough. The Celadon Defense will be my next victory." Neo's rough, rumbling voice was like listening to slowly rolling thunder. "Do you really hope to stop me? It doesn't look like you've got Zapdos to help this time. After that battle, I don't think that turkey will ever squawk again."   
Tremaine now cradled a pistol in his hand, which clicked threateningly. His eyes, once passive, were as angry as hell. "Neo quit it. You know the truth. Don't tell me you actually believed it was your master who beat you. It was the circus master whipping you again in a dream," Tremaine said, aiming.   
Neo's dangerous eyes narrowed, his long horns lowered. "Shut up human," the low, nightmarish voice rumbled. Suddenly, the rhino leaped forward, landing in the street that cracked at impact before Tremaine. Its swift, darting eyes landed on the four kids, darkening. "The Daemons…"   
Tremaine, shocked, yelled in fear, "No, don't!" Suddenly, he yanked back on the trigger.   
Time echoed the failure, the smashed bullet falling to the ground, easily deflected off the glinting armor. Neo's smirk flashed. But it faded instantly, as the massive rhino demon summoned a golden glow around its horns. It reared back slightly, preparing to shoot the orb of swirling gold light that was barely restrained. Hyper Beam. Tremaine swiftly, in one furious movement, raised the gun and shot again, but the bullet fell to the ground, deflected by the leathery, thick skin.   
Neo's hyper beam, flickering around the orb like unruly lightning, lashing out to attack wildly, began to glow. Directed straight at the four destined humans, it was only the first of many times when would destiny throw them a curve.   
But the demon didn't just aim vaguely. His sights focused on the Strength Daemon, one who answered the attack with cold, angry eyes that fumed icily. Gary didn't run, but simply stood straight, confident and impassive at the same time. Wild, fiercely spiky hair slightly waving, he said to the demon, "Take your best shot."   
"Gary, what are you doing?? You'll get killed!" Ash said suddenly, surprisingly concerned for his most hated rival.   
"Shut up Ketchum."   
Aurora, her usual cynical self, she said to herself, "Pathetic last words."   
It shot.   


Author's Notes   
*****************

This chapter could have gone on for a very very long time, but I decided this is a good a place as any to stop. Man, I love cliffhangers. The name for the chapter didn't even exist until I was writing this. Lately, I've been losing my inspiration (you know, more and more school kind of tires you out.) but don't worry. I've just got to relax a bit. But I'm still sad cuz for clubs in school Capture the Flag is over… Wah!   


Chustang@nativestar.net   



End file.
